This Queer Book Saved My Life

This book told me I was not alone and it set me on a journey of queer lit.
Today we meet Greg Howard and we’re talking about the queer book that saved his life: A Boy's Own Story by Edmund White.
Greg’s critically acclaimed, debut middle-grade novel The Whispers was nominated for an Edgar Award and was named a Best Book of 2019 by Advocate Magazine. His second middle-grade novel Middle School’s a Drag, You Better Werk! was an Amazon Teacher’s Pick. The Visitors, his third middle-grade offering, was a 2022 New York Public Library Best Book. Also, the author of the young adult novel Social Intercourse, Greg’s new middle-grade book, The Travelers, just came out on August 25, 2026.
In A Boy's Own Story, the unnamed narrator of Edmund White’s first autobiographical novel finds solace in literature, works of art, and his own fantastic imagination. Lyrical and poignant, A Boy’s Own Story—the first of a trilogy, followed by The Beautiful Room Is Empty and The Farewell Symphony—is an American literary treasure that became an instant classic upon publication for its pioneering portrayal of homosexuality.
Connect with Greg
website: greghowardbooks.com
bluesky: @greghowardbooks.bsky.social
instagram: @greghowardbooks
facebook: @greghowardbooks
Our Bookshop
Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Buy your copy of A Boy's Own Story here: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9780143114840
Buy your copy of The Travelers here: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9780593111918
Become an Associate Producer!
Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits
Host/Founder: John Parker
Executive Producer: Jim Pounds
Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Troy Ford, Jonathan Fried, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, Sean Smith, and Karsten Vagner
Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, Sofia Nerman, and Gary Nygaard.
Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
Quatrefoil Library
Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can’t buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1
Real quick: yes, you too can be a guest on our podcast! If you have a queer book that had a life-saving impact for you, then please visit thisqueerbook.com and fill out the form on the homepage! Looking forward to hearing back from you!
Support the show

A new episode of This Queer Book Saved My Life drops August 18th! In our off weeks we air episodes from The Gaily Show. It's the only daily LGBTQ news and talk show in the US! John hosts it and it airs on AM950-KTNF (Minneapolis), WCPT 820 AM (Chicago), 92.7 FM WMDX (Madison, WI), plus weekly on NewsTalk WHMP (Amherst, MA) and Alternative Talk 1150AM KKNW (Seattle).
In this episode, it’s the third Friday of the month which means author and critic Ilana Masad is back with her August book recommendations! They are:
All City by Alex DiFrancesco
Gay Bar: Why We Went Out by Jeremy Atherton Lin
Changing Gender by Susan Stryker
Then Alex Cerda from Joan Crawford Goes to Hell joins us to talk about the show. It’s in previews starting today and opens on August 28. For tickets and more info head to https://handbagproductions.org. To connect with Ilana and her books head to: https://www.ilanamasad.com/.
Watch on YouTube
We're in video too! You can watch this episode at youtube.com/@thegailyshow
Credits
Host/Founder: John Parker (learn more about my name change)
Executive Producer: Jim Pounds
Production and Distribution Support: Brett Johnson, AM950
Marketing/Advertising Support: Chad Larson, Laura Hedlund, Jennifer Ogren, AM950
Accounting and Creative Support: Gordy Erickson
Real quick: yes, you too can be a guest on our podcast! If you have a queer book that had a life-saving impact for you, then please visit thisqueerbook.com and fill out the form on the homepage! Looking forward to hearing back from you!
Support the show

This book opened a door and no one could ever close that door again.
Today we meet Patrick Doyle and we’re talking about the queer book that saved his life: Our Lady of the Flowers by Jean Genet.
PLEASE NOTE: This is an explicit book and so our episode is too. There is strong sexual content.
Patrick Doyle writes queer fiction, ranging from romance to mystery to thrillers and science fiction to just plain fiction. His stories depict gay men facing the challenges of living and loving in today's world. His previous novels include Pierre and Bill, Beau's Dilemma, and Jordi's Day. His latest novel, Bill & The Kid: A Queer Family. A Troubled Child. A Secret. A Crime comes out on October 1, 2026.
Our Lady of the Flowers is considered Genet's masterpiece. It is a lyrical portrait of the criminal underground of Paris and the thieves, murderers and pimps who occupied it. Genet approached this world through his protagonist, Divine, a male transvestite prostitute. In the world of Our Lady of the Flowers, moral conventions are turned on their head. Sinners are portrayed as saints and when evil is not celebrated outright, it is at least viewed with a benign indifference.
Connect with Patrick
website: patrickdoylewrites.com
goodreads: @Patrick_Doyle
Our Bookshop
Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Buy your copy of Our Lady of the Flowers here: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9780802130136
Become an Associate Producer!
Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits
Host/Founder: John Parker
Executive Producer: Jim Pounds
Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Troy Ford, Jonathan Fried, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, Sean Smith, and Karsten Vagner
Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, Sofia Nerman, and Gary Nygaard.
Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
Quatrefoil Library
Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can’t buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1
Real quick: yes, you too can be a guest on our podcast! If you have a queer book that had a life-saving impact for you, then please visit thisqueerbook.com and fill out the form on the homepage! Looking forward to hearing back from you!
Support the show

A new episode of This Queer Book Saved My Life drops August 18th! In our off weeks we air episodes from The Gaily Show. It's the only daily LGBTQ news and talk show in the US! John hosts it and it airs on AM950-KTNF (Minneapolis), WCPT 820 AM (Chicago), 92.7 FM WMDX (Madison, WI), plus weekly on NewsTalk WHMP (Amherst, MA) and Alternative Talk 1150AM KKNW (Seattle).
In this episode, author Isabella Tousignant joins us to discuss her new memoir The Uninvited Passenger. In it she talks about current trans issues in the age of MAGA misinformation and hate, growing up trans but with no place to express it or a way to come out, coming out late in life, and the complications of staying married. Connect with Isabella and buy the book at: http://www.theuninvitedpassenger.com/
Watch on YouTube
We're in video too! You can watch this episode at youtube.com/@thegailyshow
Credits
Host/Founder: John Parker (learn more about my name change)
Executive Producer: Jim Pounds
Production and Distribution Support: Brett Johnson, AM950
Marketing/Advertising Support: Chad Larson, Laura Hedlund, Jennifer Ogren, AM950
Accounting and Creative Support: Gordy Erickson
Real quick: yes, you too can be a guest on our podcast! If you have a queer book that had a life-saving impact for you, then please visit thisqueerbook.com and fill out the form on the homepage! Looking forward to hearing back from you!
Support the show

We have such an issue with: what should we educate children with?
Today we meet Dr. Helen Webberley and we’re talking about the queer book that saved her life: My Daddies! by Gareth Peter. And Gareth joins us for the conversation!
Dr. Webberley is a doctor, gender specialist, and medical educator with years of experience across medicine, science, sexual health, and gender identity. In 2015, Dr. Webberley supported a young trans boy who had been left without care by UK's National Health System. That’s when she founded GenderGP. The small medical service quickly became a lifeline for trans people across the UK and beyond. Now, her goals include developing training for healthcare professionals, improving legal protections for the trans community, and championing a global shift towards patient-led, rights-based models of care.
Gareth Peter has had a career as a composer and lyricist for theater, with his songs performed on stage by West End and Broadway voices across the United Kingdom and internationally. He founded the Broadway School of Performing Arts, a part-time theater school, in 2004. In 2018, he was a top-ten Penguin Random House Write Now finalist. Recent books include a series with Scholastic titled This Book is Full Of, including This Book Is Full of Unicorns and this Book Is Full Of Bunnies. Gareth lives in Nottingham with his partner and his two wonderful adopted children.
My Daddies! is a funny, heartfelt picture-book celebrating same-sex parents and shared story time, perfect for introducing children to the different kinds of family in the world today.
Connect with Dr. Webberley and Gareth
Dr. Webberley's website: helenwebberley.com
GenderGP: gendergp.com
Gareth's website: storywise.uk/gareth-peter
Instagram: @gareth.peter
Our Bookshop
Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Buy your copy of My Daddies! here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/314591/my-daddies-by-peter-gareth/9780241405772
Become an Associate Producer!
Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits
Host/Founder: John Parker
Executive Producer: Jim Pounds
Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Troy Ford, Jonathan Fried, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, Sean Smith, and Karsten Vagner
Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, Sofia Nerman, and Gary Nygaard.
Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
Quatrefoil Library
Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can’t buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1
Real quick: yes, you too can be a guest on our podcast! If you have a queer book that had a life-saving impact for you, then please visit thisqueerbook.com and fill out the form on the homepage! Looking forward to hearing back from you!
Support the show