“Queer” identity as we know it today really only came into being around the start of the 20th century, and it’s continued to evolve ever since.

In this reading group, we’ll turn our attention to the formation and evolution of this identity through fiction by some of the most influential LGBTQ+ authors of the last hundred years.

This group meets on the third Wednesday of the month in the Athenæum’s Bound, from 5:30-7pm.

Wed, September 18
The Well of Loneliness, Radclyffe Hall (1928)

Wed, October 16
Confessions of a Mask, Yukio Mishima (1949)

Wed, November 20
Another Country, James Baldwin (1962)

Wed, December 18
Rubyfruit Jungle, Rita Mae Brown (1973)

Wed, January 15
Dancer from the Dance, Andrew Holleran (1978)

Wed, February 19
The Color Purple, Alice Walker (1982)

Wed, March 19
We came all the way from Cuba so you could dress like this? , Achy Obejas (1994) Recommended Reading: The Normal Heart and The Destiny of Me, Larry Kramer (1985 and 1993) Recommended Viewing: Angels in America by Tony Kushner on HBO (Max) (1991)

Wed, April 16
Edinburgh, Alexander Chee (2001)

Wed, May 21
Nevada, Imogen Binnie (2013)

Wed, June 18
Blackouts, Justin Torres (2023)

Jack Becker (he/him or they/them) is a writer, a bartender at Trinity Rep and Riff Raff Bookstore and Bar, and a standardized patient at the Warren Alpert Medical School. They have a B.A. in Creative Nonfiction and Psychology from Columbia University.