Best Queer Books of 2023 – guide to the most exciting, vibrant fiction and nonfiction

There are so many great original voices in contemporary queer literature that deciding what to read next can feel overwhelming. I’ve been talking to writers and publishers who are working on exciting new projects, set for release in 2023, so here’s a roundup of my top picks of the best queer books. As I read them, I’ll post reviews throughout the year.

• Mark Hyatt, Love, Leda (Peninsula Press) – previously unpublished story of a man’s wanderings in and around 1960s Soho.
• Matt Cain, Becoming Ted  (Headline) – a middle-aged man faces the end of his relationship and the beginning of the rest of his life.
• Bryan Moriarty, Sounds Like Fun (Hodder & Stoughton) – story of a boy’s first foray into open relationships and the resultant self-actualisation.
• Sacha Coward, Queer as Folklore (Unbound) – a revealing and thought-provoking history of queer mythology. 
• James Cahill, Tiepolo Blue (Sceptre) – a Cambridge academic abandons his post to meet a younger man and gets involved in the 90s London art scene.
• Eliot Duncan, Ponyboy (WW Norton) – a stark exploration of addiction and transmansculinity.
• Paul Baker, Camp (Footnote Press) – an investigation into the history of camp in queer identities.  
• Soula Emmanuel, Wild Geese (Footnote Press) – the story of what happens when an Irish trans woman reconnects with her first and only girlfriend in Copenhagen. 
• Paul Burston, We Can Be Heroes (Little A) – the autobiography of an activist, novelist and journalist, charting his journey from prejudice to Pride. 
• Viola di Grado, Blue Hunger (Scribe) – a story of two women who push each other to the limits in a skyscraper in Shanghai. 
• Rosie Wilby, The Breakup Monologues (Green Tree) – a comedian’s take on the unexpected joys of heartbreak.
• Conor Sneyd, Future Fish (Lightning Books) – in a small town on the West coast of Ireland, a young man gets more than he bargained for when he starts a new job.

Authors, editors, publishers – get in touch if you’d like to provide me with a review copy or if you would like me to write a review for publication.