It’s Mardi Gras season, with the big day just around the corner and we’re loving the buzz here at Kino!

In celebratory spirit, we’ve gathered a bunch of our LGBTI book loves here for you, personally recommended by our team in store.

Come and visit us to check out our full range of Mardi Gras Book Loves in store whilst you’re out and about this fabulous season! For a full list of what’s going around in town, visit the Sydney Mardi Gras website.

A Burst of Light and Other Essays
by Audre Lorde

How does one do justice in describing the brilliance of Audre Lorde? The self-proclaimed Black lesbian feminist poet mother remains one of the greatest feminist thinkers of our time, her work something one finds themselves returning to again and again. Her words are a true source of nourishment; a guiding force. In this collection of essays, written during the 1980s, Lorde critically examines the inseparability of race, class, gender and sexuality, reflecting on her experiences as a Black lesbian in White America, and later on in life as a woman of colour living with cancer. She urges us to see difference not as something that should separate and divide, but as a reality characterising our lives, which must be faced with courage, empathy, and understanding. Part of this means refusing to remain silent even if it entails feelings of discomfort. I cannot recommend her work enough; Lorde is essential reading for anyone interested in feminism and social justice.

Reviewed by Amanda

Batwoman  
by Greg Rucka and JH Williams III 

Kate Kane was discharged from the army after breaking the Don’t-Ask-Don’t-Tell policy, but her determination to serve and protect continues as she takes on the mantle of Batwoman.
By renowned comic book writer Greg Rucka (Batman New Gotham, Gotham Central, Punisher, Wonder Woman) and artist JH Williams III (Promethea, Sandman Overtures), this compilation of Batwoman stories include the pivotal moments of Batwoman’s history and are a perfect primer for anyone wanting to start learning about DC’s most prominent gay character.
Anyone that thinks that Batwoman is just a female version of Batman clearly hasn’t read any Batwoman comics and are missing out on a character with far greater depth and complexity than the Dark Knight.

Reviewed by Dex

Echo After Echo
by Amy Rose Capetta

I absolutely love this novel. From the cover to the last page, it had me hooked. Echo After Echo is written with extraordinarily beautiful prose and contains a bi-racial lesbian romance of epic proportions. There is also a murder most foul or two. Both of these elements are perfect company for the Greek Tragedy Echo and Ariston which is the focus of the novel. With plenty of characters to love, and plenty more to love to hate, Echo After Echo has risen quickly to become one of my favourite Young Adult books of all time.

Reviewed by Felicity

The Runaways
by Brian K. Vaughan (author) and Adrian Alphona and Takeshi Miyazawa (artist)

After discovering their parents are part of a super-powered cult called the Pride, Los Angeles teens Alex, Nico and others decide to runaway from their lives and take down their villainous parents. Runaways’ cast encompasses everything you love about Marvel: a mutant girl with super strength; a powerful witch; a goofy amateur inventor; a light-bending alien; and a girl with a psychic link to her pet dinosaur.
Written by veteran comic book writer Brian K. Vaughan and artists Adrian Alphona (Ms. Marvel and Uncanny X-Force) and Takeshi Miyazawa (Ms. Marvel and Hulk: Planet Hulk), Runaways is a camp and fast-paced adventure about teen romance, stepping out of your parents’ shoes and discovering yourself.

Reviewed by Julian

Sunstone Vol 1
by Stjepan Šejić

Lisa Williams is an aspiring author who has a secret bondage/submissive fetish. Ally Carter is a successful programmer and is a domme. Meeting online via Lisa’s published works, the two become friends and eventually decide to make the nerve-wracking decision meet in person and explore their mutual fetishes. What once begins as a friends-with-benefits relationship soon turns into a budding romance that each is afraid to admit for fear of ruining a precious friendship. From creator Stjepan Šejić comes a heartwarming story about romance and relationships. Šejić’s distinct art style conveys so much emotion, and his characters have emotional baggage and relationship problems that we can all relate to.

Review by Dex

Taproot
by Keezy Young

A beautifully illustrated story about the budding romance between a young gardener who can talk to the dead and a ghost boy haunting his garden.

Review by Julian

There are No Homosexuals in Iran
by Laurence Rasti

Laurence Rasti is a Swiss-Iranian photographer whose work explores questions of beauty, culture and identity. This book is the product of a trip to Turkey in which she interviewed and photographed homosexual Iranian refugees. Rasti captures the pain of loss and displacement alongside hope, intimacy and self-expression. A moving and unnerving depiction of gender and sexuality in the Middle East.

Reviewed by Ida

Tipping the Velvet
by Sarah Waters

After reading this book, it will come as no surprise to anyone that this is considered one the best LGBTQ+ fictions out there – and one of the best, if not THE best, lesbian novels ever written. It is certainly my favourite! At once tender and provocative, steamy and emotional, this book follows Nan King as she goes from small town oyster girl, to becoming a “rent” boy – plus everything in between and beyond. We follow her through her first true love, her tumultuous relationships, her highs and her lows. And I loved every minute of it. I mean, cross-dressing lesbians in Victorian London? Sign me up!

Reviewed by Jess

The Well of Loneliness
by Radclyffe Hall

This novel sometimes obtains the injustice of misinterpretation as autobiographical. Hall was a pioneer in dealing with the pressure on women to conform, regardless of whether or not they were ‘born that way’. This one has a permanent place on my shelves.

Reviewed by Marc

William Yang: Stories of Love and Death
by Helena Grehan and Edward Scheer

This year marks FORTY years since Sydney’s first Mardi Gras, and how better to celebrate its history than through the photographs of William Yang! Yang has documented Sydney’s queer scene since the early 70s, chronicling the people and parties that have catapulted Mardi Gras from a resisted march down Oxford street into one of the biggest (and most bedazzled) events of its kind. Yang’s work is deeply personal and emotionally evocative, yet balanced with an iconic sense of fun, dance, performance, playfulness and experimentation. A celebration of a celebration, and an important book this year!

Reviewed by Ida