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About the Books

Under the Umbrella stocks books across all genres and for all ages, including current and classic fiction, nonfiction, poetry, graphic novels, and more. Every book in our store is either queer in content and/or written by queer authors. We also focus on books by small presses and self-published queer authors that you won’t find in general bookstores. 

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We flip the script on the traditional prioritization of the publishing industry by further prioritizing the works and stories of Black queers—especially Black transgender women—Indigenous queers, and other queers of color, disabled queers, fat queers, two-spirit people, intersex people, asexual and aromantic people, incarcerated queer people, queer sex workers, and other identities within the queer community that experience further marginalization, even within the queer community. As Sylvia Rivera said, there’s no pride for some of us without liberation for all of us. 

Authors do not need to be out as LGBTQ+ in order to have their books in the store. If the book has queer characters or discusses issues through a queer lens, that content is welcome in the store—whether or not the author is queer or out as queer. 

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We also carry books specifically for cisgender/heterosexual people—like Alyssa Giannini’s zine How to Support Your Non-Binary Family Member and Being a Super Trans Ally! by Phoenix Schneider—so you can send your straight friends here for education instead of using up your energy to do it yourself!