For people whose identities place them at odds with the societies, families, and communities they inherit, simply living openly can be an act of extraordinary courage. In Bobuq Sayed’s No God But Us, two queer Afghan men find themselves navigating exile, love, and an increasingly authoritarian Istanbul while trying to build lives on the margins of society. In Marlon James’ The Disappearers, eight queer men in 1980s Kingston come together through theater, only to confront the violence and hatred directed at them when their secret is exposed. And in Davin Malasarn’s The Outer Country, a family’s attempts to protect a young boy from a world that does not accept his queerness instead leave him to reconcile with the scars of that protection as he grows into himself. Together, these novels ask what survival demands of us—and what it means to claim a life on our own terms. Moderated by creativity coach and Feed the Art podcast host Catherine LaSota.
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