NON-FICTION
2024 curated booklist
These non-fiction books include memoirs and biographies, history, art, social science, parenting and familes and include books for all ages.
Honouring Our Ancestors
Edited by Alison Green, Leonie Pihama
In these rigorous and challenging essays, writers from Aotearoa and Turtle Island (Canada and the United States of America) explore the well-being of takatapui, two-spirit, and Maori and Indigenous LGBTQI+ communities. Themes include resistance, reclamation, empowerment, transformation and healing. Central to Honouring Our Ancestors is the knowledge that, before colonisation, Indigenous peoples had their own healthy understandings of gender, sexual identities and sexuality. Some of these understandings have survived the onslaught of colonisation; others require decolonisation so that our Indigenous nations can begin to heal. Through this lens, the writers gathered here contribute their knowledge and experience of structural and social change. This collection was inspired by two major research projects: the HONOR Project, which investigated well-being in American Indian and Alaskan Native two-spirit communities, and the Honour Project Aotearoa, which investigated Kaupapa Maori strengths-based understandings of the health and well-being of takatapui and Maori LGBTQI+ communities. Edited by Alison Green and Leonie Pihama, Honouring Our Ancestors upholds the independent authorities and languages that distinguish our Indigenous nations and celebrates the relationships that bind us. Decolonised Indigenous knowledges are offered as a wellspring of unlimited potential for Indigenous communities and nations everywhere.
Category: NZ Authors, Non-Fiction
Representation: Takatāpui, indigiqueer, two-spirit, diverse genders, diverse sexualities
Content Warnings: Unknown
ISBN: 9781776920730
Find it in your local library (WorldCat)
XOXY: A Memoir
Kimberly M. Zieselman
Meet Kimberly, a regular suburban housewife and mother, whose discovery later in life that she was born intersex fueled her to become an international human rights defender and globally-recognised activist.
Charting her intersex discovery and her journey to self-acceptance, this book movingly portrays how being intersex impacted Kimberly’s personal and family life, as well as her career. From uncovering a secret that was intentionally kept from her, to coming out to her family and friends and fighting for intersex rights, her candid and empowering story helps breakdown barriers and misconceptions of intersex people and brings to light the trauma and harmful impact medical intervention continues to have on the intersex community.
Written from a non-queer perspective, and filled with much-needed, straightforward information and advice about what it means to be intersex, this is a vital and timely resource for intersex people and their families, as well as the general reader.
Category: Autobiography, Non-Fiction
Representation: Intersex
Content Warnings: Discrimination, mental illness, sexual activity
ISBN: 9781785928376
Find it in your local library (WorldCat)
Non-Binary Lives
Jos Twist, Ben Vincent, Meg-John Barker and Kat Gupta
What does it mean to be non-binary in the 21st Century? Our gender identity is impacted by our personal histories; the cultures, communities and countries we are born into; and the places we go and the people we meet. But the representation of contemporary non-binary identities has been limited, until now. Pushing the narrative around non-binary identities further than ever before, this powerful collection of essays represents the breadth of non-binary lives, across the boundaries of race, class, age, sexuality, faith and more.
Leading non-binary people share stories of their intersecting lives; how it feels to be non-binary and neurodiverse, the challenges of being a non-binary pregnant person, what it means to be non-binary within the Quaker community, the joy of reaching gender euphoria. This thought-provoking anthology shows that there is no right or wrong way to be non-binary.
Category: Non-Fiction
Representation: Non-binary
Content Warnings: Transphobia, homophobia, self-harm, bullying, fatphobia, ableism, disordered eating/eating disorder
ISBN: 9781787753396
Find it in your local library (WorldCat)
The Every Body Book
This vibrant and beautifully illustrated book teaches children sex, gender and relationships education in a way that is inclusive of all sexual orientations and gender identities. Covering puberty, hormones, pregnancy, consent, sex, babies, relationships and families, it uses gender-neutral language throughout and celebrates diversity in all its forms, including race, ethnicity, faith, bodies, gender and sexuality. For use with children aged 8-12, it will help answer their questions and spark open discussion with parents, careers and teachers.
With informative illustrations and further resources and a guide for adults, The Every Body Book is the ultimate sex, gender and relationships education resource for children. An illustrated LGBTQ+ inclusive kid’s guide to sex, gender and relationships education that includes children and families of all genders and sexual orientations, covering puberty, hormones, consent, sex, pregnancy and safety.
Category: Non-Fiction, Children, Children’s Primary Book
Representation: Diverse sexualities, diverse genders
Content Warnings: No warnings apply
ISBN: 9781787751743
Find it in your local library (WorldCat)
Sexuality and the Stories of Indigenous People
Edited by Jessica Hutchings and Clive Aspin
Since the beginning of time, sexuality has played a fundamental role in ensuring good health and well-being of people throughout the world.
Today, there is a growing understanding of the important role that sexuality plays in the lives of individuals and communities.
For indigenous people and for Maori, our understanding of our sexuality today is heavily influenced by the historical understandings passed down to us by our ancestors. Gradually, as we uncover the truth about what our ancestors believed and peel back the veneer of colonization, it is clear that the sexuality of indigenous peoples is vastly different from the dominant Western paradigm that has been applied around the world.
The stories in this book testify to the great diversity of Maori and indigenous sexuality today and provide inspiration for people who want to know more about sexuality and its role in our lives. The people in this book have overcome huge challenges related to their sexuality.
Category: Non-Fiction, NZ Author
Representation: Takatāpui, diverse sexualities, BIPOC
Content Warnings: Unknown
ISBN: 9781869692773
Find it in your local library (WorldCat)
Puberty is Gross But Also Really Awesome
Gina Loveless
A first-of-its-kind inclusive puberty guide that celebrates the good and completely awful parts of puberty. Filled with jokes and countless facts to put this stage in perspective–this book is bound to be every kid’s new best friend!
Puberty . . . is pretty gross for pretty much everyone. It’s a smelly, hairy, sticky, and (worst of all) totally confusing time! But did you know there’s a lot about puberty that makes it REALLY AWESOME?
Get the whole picture with this honest, humorous, and empowering survival guide to the tween years. It’s packed with straighforward illustrations, easy-to-understand scientific information, interesting studies, and tips from experts, covering everything from breast development and gender identity to acne and mental health.
No matter your gender, sexuality, or race, this book is for you. Never shying away from the tough stuff, this utterly modern take on puberty is the resource this generation needs! Welcome to modern puberty–it’s transformative, kind of gross, but undeniably AWESOME!
Category: Non-Fiction, Children, Children’s Primary Book, Children’s Intermediate Book
Representation: Diverse sexualities, diverse genders
Content Warnings: Bullying, disordered eating/eating disorders
ISBN: 9781635653533
Find it in your local library (WorldCat)
Intersex: A Memoir
Aaron Apps
Intersex explores gender as it forms in concrete and unavoidable patterns in the material world. What happens when a child is born with ambiguous genitalia? What happens when a body is normalized? Intersex provides tangled and shifting answers to both of these questions as it questions our ideas of what is natural and normal about gender and personhood. In this hybrid-genre memoir, intersexed author Aaron Apps adopts and upends historical descriptors of hermaphroditic bodies such as ‘freak of nature,’ ‘hybrid,’ ‘imposter,’ ‘sexual pervert,’ and ‘unfortunate monstrosity’ in order to trace his own monstrous sex as it perversely intertwines with gender expectations and medical discourse.
INTERSEX leaves the reader wondering: what does it mean to be human?
Category: Non-Fiction, Autobiography’s Intermediate Book
Representation: Intersex
Content Warnings: Unknown
ISBN: 9781939460042
Find it in your local library (WorldCat)
Samoan Queer Lives
Dan Taulapapa, Yuki Kihara
Samoan Queer Lives delves into the unique lives of Samoan people who are ‘fa`afafine’ – broadly understood in the Western interpretation as persons who are of transgender, intersexed and third sex, or gay, lesbian and bisexual origin.
This book, the first of its kind, is edited and written by fa`afafine. Here fa`afafine share their stories in their own words.
Category: Non-Fiction
Representation: Diverse sexualities, diverse genders, BIPOC
Content Warnings: Unknown
ISBN: 9781877484094
Find it in your local library (WorldCat)
This Book Is Gay
Juno Dawson
Lesbian. Gay. Bisexual. Transgender. Queer. Intersex. Straight. Curious. This book is for everyone, regardless of gender or sexual preference. This book is for anyone who’s ever dared to wonder. This book is for YOU.
This candid, funny, and uncensored exploration of sexuality and what it’s like to grow up LGBTQ also includes real stories from people across the gender and sexual spectrums, not to mention hilarious illustrations.
Inside this revised and updated edition, you’ll find the answers to all the questions you ever wanted to ask.
Category: Non-Fiction, Children’s Intermediate Book, Young Adult
Representation: Diverse sexualities, diverse genders
Content Warnings: Homophobia, sexual activity, substance use/abuse, transphobia, religion, bullying
ISBN: 9781728254326
Find it in your local library (WorldCat)
Queer, There and Everywhere: 23 people who changed the world
Sarah Prager
The star-reviewed LGBTQ+ history book for young adults—now updated and expanded with 3 new profiles and a new foreword! Perfect for fans of fun, empowering pop-culture books like Rad American Women A-Z and Notorious RBG.
World history has been made by countless lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals—and you’ve likely never heard of many of them.
Queer author and activist Sarah Prager delves deep into the lives of 27 people who fought, created, and loved on their own terms. From high-profile figures like Abraham Lincoln and Eleanor Roosevelt to the trailblazing gender-ambiguous Queen of Sweden and a bisexual blues singer who didn’t make it into your history books, these astonishing true stories uncover a rich queer heritage that encompasses every culture, in every era.
By turns hilarious and inspiring, the beautifully illustrated Queer, There, and Everywhere is for anyone who wants the real story of the queer rights movement.
Category: Non-Fiction, Short Stories
Representation: Diverse sexualities, diverse genders
Content Warnings: Transphobia, homophobia, character death, police violence/brutality, violence, substance use/abuse, suicide, racism
ISBN: 9780063329232
Find it in your local library (WorldCat)