Uncovering lesbian lives in the archives: Amelia Possanza joins us for Pride.

On this week’s Fully Booked podcast, Amelia Possanza discusses Lesbian Love Story: A Memoir in Archives (Catapult, May 30) on our second annual Pride Episode—boldly celebrating LGBTQ+ authors, illustrators, and translators in the face of an alarming uptick in legislation designed to deprive readers of these important voices and stories. In the special Pride Issue of Kirkus Reviews, out June 15, you’ll find interviews with Wesley G. Phelps, Tegan & Sarah, Federico Erebia, and other fantastic queer creators, as well as LGBTQ+ book lists in fiction, nonfiction, and young readers’ literature. 

In Lesbian Love Story, full-time book publicist and debut author Possanza presents an amalgam of memoir, biography, and social history celebrating lesbianism in its many forms. Here’s a bit from Kirkus’ starred review:

“‘Mostly grown and living in New York City, I still rarely spotted other lesbians,’ writes book publicist Possanza in her debut. ‘I joined a queer swim team, but it was full of gay men who didn’t recognize me.’ As such, she ‘resolved to become a collector of lesbians.’ Part personal memoir, part archival research, the book expertly weaves together stories of lesbians across time with a historian’s precision and a novelist’s pacing. Bringing together seven epic love stories across eras, ranging from the classical Greek poet Sappho and her lover Anactoria to lesbian caretakers in the AIDS crisis extending beyond romantic boundaries, Possanza cultivates a worthy collection of lesbian love stories.…Detailed and immensely readable, this is a generous history of lesbian love.”

Possanza and host Megan Labrise talk about the paucity of lesbian role models in the ’90s and early 2000s; a working definition of the word lesbian; the many other words used to define lesbian lives; inventing your own systems of love; why archival lesbians were easier to spot in pairs; interweaving personal experience with biographical writing; Mary Casal, Rusty Brown, and Sappho; and much more.

Then editors Laura Simeon, Mahnaz Dar, Eric Liebetrau, and Laurie Muchnick share their top picks in books for the week.

Editors’ picks:

Lion’s Legacy by L.C. Rosen (Union Square & Co.)

World Made of Glass by Ami Polonsky (Little, Brown)

Marry Me a Little: A Graphic Memoir by Rob Kirby (Graphic Mundi)

Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style by Paul Rudnick (Atria)

Also mentioned on this episode:

No Way, They Were Gay?: Hidden Lives and Secret Loves by Lee Wind

I Think I Love Youby Allison Pearson

Flamer by Mike Curato

I Shudder by Paul Rudnick

Thanks to our sponsors:

Bush Leaguers by Robert McKeon and Sam Fletcher, illus. by Joe Flood

The Villagers by Derek Owens, illus. by Caroline Golden

Memorial Day by Brendan Walsh

Fully Booked is produced by Cabel Adkins Audio and Megan Labrise.