Pride Lit Releases New LGBTQ+ Books in the Bahaghari Book Launch

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Stories unite people and in celebration of this year’s pride march and three years in the publishing industry, Pride Lit, the Filipino publishing line first to come out with pop literature books focusing on tales of the LGBTQ+ community in the Philippines released new titles from their respected and talented authors.

I was super lucky and thankful to be one of the bloggers invited to cover the Bahaghari Book Launch last June 28, 2019. The event opened up with the introduction of each author and their new book, followed by a spoken word where they read snippets of the stories they wrote.

Each book had unique plots and vibrant characters representing the Filipino queer community from different walks of life. Check out their 6 new titles below:

1. Agustin and Ariston’s Version of the Universe by Lush Ericson

2. Kadenang Bahaghari by John Jack G. Wigley

3. Red Briefs, Young Love and Other Superstitions by Nina Satomi

4. Gay’s Anatomy by Alex Rosas

5. Minutes to Midnight by Leonna

6. Sylvestre’s Wedding by Albert Lang

Queer Love Stories for the Filipino Masses

It’s really interesting and funny at the same time how you can really recognize the characters in these books from the friends you know or people you’ve interacted with every day. These kinds of people exist and they have several stories worth telling. Yes, coming out and accepting who we are is a big part of our story, but like other people, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, trans-men, and trans-women also feel love, pain, and heartache experiences growing up. There is an under-representation of the LGBTQ+ community in the Filipino media and it’s blindsiding our readers and viewers, thinking that love stories can only be from the opposite sex. LGBTQ+ Filipinos need stories they can relate to and characters can they directly identify with.

Segundo Matias Jr., Pride lit’s founder says that the publishing line aims for Queer Pop Literature like this to be a staple in our community, to normalize LGBTQ+ relationships by continuing to put out stories of queer love for our Filipino people. Pride Lit publishes books that are relatable and accessible to encourage the Filipino masses to read and appreciate our literature. Reading books shapes the minds of our youth to gain new perspectives, to be more creative and open, and to have a greater understanding of the world around them.

As a gay Filipino writer and aspiring published author who grew up reading books, I fully support the mission of this publishing line and encourage everyone to purchase and read from the collection of books they released. People of all ages and from every sexual orientation there is should open their minds and be willing to read and let the distinct voices of these authors be heard.

Hopefully through your support by buying and reading these books, more titles could be published in the future. This is a crucial part in our fight for equality because this type of literature goes beyond just educating people about what being LGBTQ+ is. It opens everyone’s minds to allow change and finally understands that we are human beings just like them.

I’m having so much fun reading my new set of books. My life was never as fun as these characters are growing up and I never experienced love stories like this myself. I don’t have to be bored by reading the same love stories over and over again in different fictional books. I’m so happy to live vicariously through these queer characters and be reminded of what falling in love feels like, because I’m just too busy to even spare time to actually date. Hahaha.

I’ve also be written love stories of my own because my unrealistic expectations of men should be met somewhere right? Make sure to check out Pride Lit’s new books. You can click below to check out Precious Pages in Shopee.

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Thoughts:

Ivan Jose
This is a great initiative. I hope all these titles gain commercial success and the traction it needs so that such projects can be sustained in the years to come.

Jayne
Ang ganda at interesting ng books ang witty ng titles

Kathleene Grace
Interesting book titles! These are the kinds na talagang macu-curious ka about the content and the story

Blair Villanueva
Thanks for sharing these new books! Perfect as gifts for my gay friends

Karla
I haven’t read any books about Pride Lit yet. Thanks for these recommendations!
Camille I’m intrigued with Sylvestre’s Wedding, since I am in a wedding planning niche. Looks like a good read. So happy that LGBT community gets the respect and acceptance they deserve

Rad
Ohhh, I didn’t know that there are book fairs for “Pride Literature”! I’ll recommend this to my LGBT friends.

Wendy
I will be looking forward to your own published pride lit

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