Stir Fry

By Emma Donoghue, 1994

A clever, poignant and funny coming-of-age story by an award-winning writer.

A 17 year-old girl from rural Ireland goes to university in Dublin and accidentally moves in with a lesbian couple.

It explores how someone might stumble into questioning their sexual identity in the midst of friendship, and probes feminist ideas of sisterhood and non-possessiveness.

Coming Out: Irish gay experiences

By Glen O’Brien, 2003

With a foreword by Colm Tóibín, this book details the experiences of Irish gay men, lesbians and bisexuals. Told by themselves, but also through the voices of parents, siblings, wives and children, this is a story of gay rights against a backdrop of oppression, suppression and repression.

Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit

By Jeanette Winterson, 1985

This award-winning, funny and tender novel tells the story of a girl growing up in a fundamentalist Christian home whose upbringing is marked by bible readings and the journey to find her true self. The girl’s emerging lesbian identity is a theme beautifully explored.

Love in a Dark Time: gay lives from Wilde to Almodóvar

By Colm Tóibín, 2003

An Essay Collection about gay writers, artists, and public figures who, on the whole, kept their homosexuality hidden, either by choice or necessity. Explores their impact on gay readers, who may find solace and sexual identity in the work of these great figures.

“A Boy's Own Story” “The Beautiful Room Is Empty” and “The Farewell Symphony” – a trio of autobiographical novels.

By Edmund White, 1982, 1988, 1997

With intelligence, humour and also anger, White explores the life of a gay man from boyhood to late middle age and the most insidious aspects of oppression throughout. A stunning, original trilogy.

The Letter Q: queer writers’ notes to their younger selves

By Sarah Moon (Editor) 2012

Anthology in which 64 writers and illustrators make imaginative journeys into their pasts, telling us what they would have liked to have known about their lives as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgendered people.

Reflecting different time periods and experiences, these letters will support young adults, hungry for community.

Maurice

By E.M. Forster, 1971

Written during 1913 & 1914, but only published in 1971, tells the story of a young middle-class man searching for his own identity within a society which denies his desire for love with a person of the same sex.

A classic novel, timeless in its plea for emotional and sexual honesty, and its criticism of society’s repressive attitudes.

The Hours

By Michael Cunningham, 1998

Multi-award winning novel that follows one day in the lives of three generations of questionably lesbian or bisexual women. Peripheral characters also exhibit a variety of sexual orientations.

Examines the freedom with which successive generations have been able to express their sexuality, to the public and to themselves.

The Mayor of Castro Street: The life and times of Harvey Milk

By Randy Shilts, 1982

Tells the story of Milk’s personal life, public career, and final assassination. Full of personal tragedies and political intrigues. This book, by a critically acclaimed writer on gay issues for the mainstream, brought public attention to gay civil rights and discrimination issues and broke new ground for the gay community.

Brokeback Mountain

By Annie Proulx, 1997

Annie Proulx has written some of the most original and brilliant short stories and "Brokeback Mountain" is her masterpiece. In gorgeous and haunting prose, Proulx tells the story of the difficult, dangerous affair between two cowboys that survives everything but the world's violent intolerance.