#PrideLibrary20: Introduction Post

Time for an exciting announcement!

As you probably know, June is Pride Month. Sadly, the pandemic is making it impossible to have in person celebrations. But of course we can still celebrate and share our pride online!

Last year, my friends Hâf @ The Library Looter, Michelle @ Michelle Likes Things and I hosted #PrideLibrary19, a challenge with prompts for every day of the month. I’m so excited to announce that we’re back with another Pride challenge: #PrideLibrary20. We hope you’ll join us again, for as few or as many days as you want!

How to participate?

You can participate on Instagram by taking pictures that suit the following prompts and then posting them on the set days using #PrideLibrary20. We’re hosting a giveaway along with the Instagram challenge as well, more info below!

You can also participate on your blog! To do so, you can write a blog post to match the day’s themes. For instance, you could review a book that has said representation, or recommend some of your favourites! Let us know below if you’ll be participating!! If you share any blog posts based on the prompts, make sure to follow our blogs and link to our challenge announcement posts, as we’d love to read your posts! We’re hosting a giveaway along with the blog challenge as well, more info below!

Giveaway!

This challenge comes with a giveaway as well!!🎉 Three people will win a 2020 LGBTQ+ release of their choice valued up to €15! Two through Instagram and one through book blogs. We’ll pick the winners at the end of the month. The giveaway is international, as long as Book Depository ships to your country.

You can participate on your book blog by following all three of us and writing a post about the prompt of that day. You can participate as many times as you want, and you’ll increase your chances of winning with each post. Please link back to our announcement posts: Michelle’s can be found here, Hâf’s can be found here, and you’re reading mine right now.

Explaining the prompts

You can view all of the prompts below, and I’ll add short explanations of each of the prompts as well. Each of us will be writing multiple blog posts, so we’ll also give you recommendations for the different prompts to help you along a little bit! For now, you can check Michelle’s blog to read about why we’re hosting this challenge, and you can check Hâf’s blog to find some first recommendations (more recommendations can be found below as well).

The basic premise of this challenge is of course to include books with LGBTQ+ rep and/or written by LGBTQ+ authors in your photos and/or blog posts! We’ve tried to come up with inclusive prompts, and encourage you to include as many diverse books by LGBTQ+ authors as possible.

If you have any questions or you’re looking for recommendations, please don’t hesitate to ask 🙂 We’re always happy to help you out and to give recs! After all, this is meant as a way to have fun together, and we know it can be hard to find books with certain kinds of representation.

Below, I’ll explain each of the prompts and also give some recommendations if fitting, to help get you started. Please never hesitate to ask me for personal recommendations, my Instagram and Twitter DMs are always open!

1 TBR

The challenge starts off with a ‘TBR’ prompt. ‘TBR’ stands for ‘to be read’, and the idea is to share the LGBTQ+ books you want to read in June!

2 Anticipated releases

What LGBTQ+ book releases are you most excited about? List your most anticipated ones, review an upcoming release, talk about why you’re so excited about a specific release, etc.

For inspiration, you can check out this Goodreads list.

3 F/F romance

Feature any book with a main female/female romance!

For inspiration, I have a wlw (women loving women) Goodreads shelf! Please note that these are just the F/F books I’ve read and there are many more.

4 Favorite author

Who’s your favorite LGBTQ+ author? Let us know in today’s post!

It probably goes without saying, but we’re specifically looking for LGBTQ+ authors here, not allocishet authors writing LGBTQ+ books. So if you’re a big Becky Albertalli fan, for instance, that’s amazing, but today is not the day to share her books!

5 Trans/non-binary rep

What are your favourite books with trans/non-binary main characters? Which ones are you excited to read? Today, share any book with a trans/non-binary main character.

Need recommendations? Here’s my trans rep Goodreads shelf! And here’s my blog post for trans book recs!

6 Black author

What LGBTQ+ books by Black authors are your favourites? Which ones are you looking forward to reading?

On these combined shelves, you can find my recommendations for Black authors writing LGBTQ+ books!

7 Questioning rep

Feature any book with a main character who spends (part of) the book questioning their sexuality and/or gender identity!

I have a Goodreads shelf for books with questioning representation as well.

8 Favorite queer book

We’re so curious to see which LGBTQ+ book is your favourite! What book resonated with you the most? What book do you end up wanting to reread time and time again? What book would you save from a burning building?

9 Asexual rep

This prompt is meant to highlight any books with asexual main characters.

For recommendations, you can check out my aspec Goodreads shelf, and my blog post with asexual book recs.

10 M/M romance

Feature any book with a main male/male romance!

For inspiration, I have a mlm (men loving men) Goodreads shelf! Please note that these are just the M/M books I’ve read and there are many more.

11 Disabled/neurodivergent MC

Another prompt to highlight intersectionality! Feature any LGBTQ+ book with a disabled and/or neurodivergent main character.

On these combined Goodreads shelves, you can find my recommendations of books with both LGBTQ+ and disability representation.

12 LGBTQIA+ series

What’s your favourite book series with LGBTQ+ rep? What LGBTQ+ series do you really want to read?

13 Debut author

Let’s highlight some LGBTQ+ debut authors! For recs, I’d love to refer you again to this list of 2020 YA books with LGBTQ+ rep! This list includes a lot of debut authors, but of course you’d have to do a little research yourself to see if the featured book is actually someone’s first book.

14 Pride Flag

Today’s prompt is simple, but we always love seeing the results: make your own rainbow out of books! We do ask you to please include as many LGBTQ+ books in your rainbow as possible.

15 Pan rep

Time to recommend some books with pansexual representation!

For recs, check out my Goodreads shelf of pan books!

16 #OwnVoices

Let’s highlight all the LGBTQ+ books by LGBTQ+ authors!

For inspiration, I found this Goodreads list with books with own voices LGBTQ+ rep.

17 Latinx author

What LGBTQ+ books by Latinx authors are your favourites? Which ones are you looking forward to reading?

On these combined shelves, you can find my recommendations for Latinx authors writing LGBTQ+ books!

18 Tribute to queer character

Write a tribute to a queer character! What LGBTQ+ character means the world to you? Who do you see yourself the most in?

19 Graphic novel

Do you like graphic novels? What LGBTQ+ ones have you read? Or which ones are you looking forward too? Feel free to feature any format of comics, including web comics, for instance!

On these combined shelves, you can find my recommendations for LGBTQ+ graphic novels!

20 Aromantic rep

This prompt is meant to highlight any books with aromantic main characters!

For recommendations, you can check out my aspec Goodreads shelf.

21 #SockSunday

#SockSunday is one of our favourite bookstagram tags, and it basically means: post a picture with (you wearing) socks and (a) book(s)! I know I’ll be wearing my rainbow socks!! And don’t forget to feature LGBTQ+ books, of course!

22 Short stories/anthology

On these combined shelves, you can find my recommendations for LGBTQ+ anthologies! Most of these have exclusively LGBTQ+ stories and some of them just feature a couple of LGBTQ+ stories.

23 Favorite couple

What’s your favourite LGBTQ+ couple from a book? Please note that this literally just means: any couple where one of more of them are LGBTQ+!

24 Bi rep

Time to recommend some books with bisexual representation!

For recs, check out my Goodreads shelf of bisexual books!

25 Queer cover love

What LGBTQ+ books have the most beautiful covers?

26 Asian author

What LGBTQ+ books by Asian authors are your favourites? Which ones are you looking forward to reading?

On these combined shelves, you can find my recommendations for Asian authors writing LGBTQ+ books!

27 MC with mental illness

Feature any LGBTQ+ book with a mentally ill main character.

On these combined shelves, you can find my recommendations for LGBTQ+ books dealing with mental illness! Please note that not all of these books have a mentally ill main character, so you might have to do some additional research.

28 Diverse books

Share your diverse LGBTQ+ books! Please focus on intersectionality with this prompt. Feature authors of colour, feature disabled main characters, etc.

On these combined shelves, you can find my recommendations for LGBTQ+ books by authors of colour.

29 Needs a sequel

What LGBTQ+ book needs a sequel RIGHT NOW?

30 Wrap-up

Our last prompt is “wrap-up”. What LGBTQ+ books did you end up reading in June?

Are you going to participate? Let us know in the comments!