As part of Pride Month, today we’re pointing out five bisexual books, both fiction and non-fiction, that have grabbed our eye.
Bi: Notes for a Bisexual Revolution by Shiri Eisner
Depicted as duplicitous, traitorous, and promiscuous, bisexuality has long been suspected, marginalized, and rejected by both straight and gay communities alike. Bi takes a long overdue, comprehensive look at bisexual politics- from the issues surrounding biphobia/monosexism, feminism, and transgenderism to the practice of labeling those who identify as bi as either too bisexual” (promiscuous and incapable of fidelity) or not bisexual enough” (not actively engaging romantically or sexually with people of at least two different genders). In this forward-thinking and eye-opening book, feminist bisexual and genderqueer activist Shiri Eisner takes readers on a journey through the many aspects of the meanings and politics of bisexuality, specifically highlighting how bisexuality can open up new and exciting ways of challenging social convention.Informed by feminist, transgender, and queer theory, as well as politics and activism, Bi is a radical manifesto for a group that has been too frequently silenced, erased, and denied- and a starting point from which to launch a bisexual revolution.
Purple Prose: Bisexuality in Britain by Kate Harrad
Purple Prose: Bisexuality in Britain is the first of its kind: a book written for and by bisexuals in the UK. This accessible collection of interviews, essays, poems and commentary explores topics such as definitions of bisexuality, intersections of bisexuality with other identities, stereotypes and biphobia, being bisexual at work, teenage bisexuality and bisexuality through the years, the media’s approach to bisexual celebrities, and fictional bisexual characters. Filled with raw, honest, first-person accounts as well as thoughts from leading bisexual activists in the UK, this is the book you’ll buy for your friend who’s just come out to you as bi-curious, or for your parents who think your bisexuality is weird or a phase, or for yourself, because you know you’re bi but you don’t know where to go or what to do about it.
Mouth to Mouth by Abigail Child
Poetry. LGBT Studies. Departing from Abigail Child’s previous books of poetry, MOUTH TO MOUTH spans the past two decades focusing on a series of romantic and sexual relationships with both women and men. From inside the sexual whirlwind of these relations and after, Child’s attention to language as embodied material highlights how mediated and multiple layers of desire can be just as thrilling and physical on the page. Even as this divergent collection of writing ranges through these relationships, it also ranges through poetic methodologies, using computers as a writerly id and organizing principle, employing constraints and aleatory processes, and recalling the body’s desires in a constant process of titillation, problematization, and ongoing translation.
Beautiful Gravity by Martin Hyatt
Loner Boz Matthews spends his days working at his grandfather’s Louisiana highway diner. His only friends are the Pentecostal preacher’s anorexic daughter, Meg, and the ghosts of dead movie stars. But when country music outlaws Catty Mills and Kyle Thomas come to town, Boz’s world is turned upside-down, leading to an emotionally turbulent and sexually liberating four-way relationship that challenges small-town beliefs and changes lives forever. Beautiful Gravity is a story of broken dreams and haunted Southern nights–a reminder of what it means to be loved and what it means to be set free.
When Watched – Stories by Leopoldine Core
Winner of the Whiting Award
Finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award
Longlisted for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction & The Story Prize
“Core captures a precious slice of what it is to be human. . . . She reaches moments of extraordinary grace.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Pick up this book and prepare to face sublime recognition.” —Rookie
“Full of dazzling insight and empathy.” —Refinery 29
Refreshing, witty, and absolutely close to the heart, Core’s twenty stories, set in and around New York City, have an other-worldly quality along with a deep seriousness—even a moral seriousness. What we know of identity is smashed and in its place, true individuals emerge, each bristling with a unique sexuality, a belief-system all their own. Reminiscent of Jane Bowles, William Burroughs, and Colette, her writing glows with an authenticity that is intoxicating and rare.
South Dublin Reads 