Each story has an illustration by an artist identifying as part of the LGBTQ+ community. Compiled by Juno Dawson, author of THIS BOOK IS GAY and CLEAN.A celebration of LGBTQ+ talent, PROUD is a thought-provoking, funny, emotional read.Contributors: Steve Antony, Dean Atta, Kate Alizadeh, Fox Benwell, Alex Bertie, Caroline Bird, Fatti Burke, Tanya Byrne, Moïra Fowley-Doyle, Frank Duffy, Simon James Green, Leo Greenfield, Saffa Khan, Karen Lawler, David Levithan, Priyanka Meenakshi, Alice Oseman, Michael Lee Richardson, David Roberts, Cynthia So, Kay Staples, Jessica Vallance, Kristen Van Dam and Kameron White.Following A CHANGE IS GONNA COME, winner of the YA BOOK PRIZE SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 2018

     The most captivating woman in the city has walked into my office. Hair as red as carnal passion and a body I can’t stop fantasizing about. She doesn’t know it yet, but I’m about to ask her out. And she will say yes, because she won’t have a reason to say no. When my conquest is complete, I intend to forget all about her. She is, after all, the reason for my pain. She is the source of my breakup and the woman my good-for-nothing ex seduced. I will consume the woman who wrecked my relationship. I will not fall for her, no matter how tempting she is. It’s not becoming to be The Other Woman, after all. Good girls shouldn’t cross me.But Keira isn’t a good girl, is she? I’m no saint myself. In the end, we’ll probably go down together. It’ll be what we both deserve. THE OTHER WOMAN is a heated tale of revenge and scarred hearts. It has a HEA – but how Evelyn and Keira get there? You’ll have to find out for yourself.

    These poems are honest, vulnerable, and unflinching in their ability to look into the speaker's complications. The poems trace the author's childhood, adulthood, and hopeful future, all of them asking the central question of how a person continues to love themselves, even as all they know evolves and vanishes.

    The Supreme Court ruled in Edie's favor, a landmark victory that set the stage for full marriage equality in the US. Beloved by the LGBTQ community, Edie embraced her new role as an icon; she had already been living an extraordinary and groundbreaking life for decades.In this memoir, which she began before passing away in 2017 and completed by her co-writer, Edie recounts her childhood in Philadelphia, her realization that she was a lesbian, and her active social life in Greenwich Village's electrifying underground gay scene during the 1950s. Edie was also one of a select group of trailblazing women in computing, working her way up the ladder at IBM and achieving their highest technical ranking while developing software. In the early 1960s Edie met Thea, an expat from a Dutch Jewish family that fled the Nazis, and a widely respected clinical psychologist. Their partnership lasted forty-four years, until Thea died in 2009. Edie found love again, marrying Judith Kasen-Windsor in 2016.A Wild and Precious Life is remarkable portrait of an iconic woman, gay life in New York in the second half of the twentieth century, and the rise of LGBT activism.

    Where we don't, we read, we ask, we learn and then, we solve! What happens when there are no answers though? When nobody in the world knows! When we see the need to invent Gods even if we can't discover Him. Through a string of poems, the author narrates such an experience with his non-verbal and autistic daughter, Enya. What started as a week of babysitting for him soon became a seeking to change her into 'normal'. But, that seeking ended up transforming the seeker!The narrative in the form of poetry touches upon the revelation that comes out of desperation of not finding an answer at all and therefore, the thoughts getting tired of themselves and the mind taking a back seat. In that silence, the author says, things become clear and all aspects of life show their inter-relation! The intellect gives way to the intelligence, the body and mind as 'me' gives way to the world as 'me'! The mind map once seen, one starts to see the true nature of the 'me' and that perspective and clarity make everything clear and possible in life...

    In this superb anthology can be found the best of the English-speaking world’s inspirational and reassuring verse, including such classics as Rudyard Kipling’s ‘If’ and W.H. Davies’ ‘Leisure’. This beautifully illustrated collection of over 120 poems is sure to offer solace, hearten the soul and motivate the human spirit.

    But when the glitter fades, she relocates to the little village of Cauthwell to start over. Relationships are off the table, but she manages to find plenty of temporary company in her area. Until, that is, she takes on an auction for a very special client. Kim Besson is lost. After her father dies she gives up her life in Manchester and heads to Cauthwell to sell the family home. With no family or friends, she has no idea what to do with the next stage of her life. When enigmatic, charming, older woman, Philippa, comes into her life, she starts to realise just what it is she might have been missing. But surely someone like Philippa wouldn’t be interested in a country girl like her… When big city meets small town, home is what you find.

    She had a loving wife, a beautiful home, and the promise of a child to call their own. However, after a devastating loss, Beth’s ex walked out on her, leaving Beth to pick up the pieces of their broken family.Now, at forty years old, Beth spends her days walking the empty halls of a house that no longer feels like home. Comfortable in her solitude, Beth’s night is interrupted when a woman shows up on her doorstep asking for shelter from the cold.Stranded and drenched by the pouring rain, 28-year-old Abby's night has gone from bad to worse. From her cheating ex to a fallen tree that’s blocked her path, Abby’s had it with the rest of the world. The company could be also better, but with nowhere else to go, Abby must depend on the kindness of a stranger that, while rough around the edges, can be quite warm if given the chance.A Place to Call Home is a sweet lesbian romance with no cliffhangers and a happily ever after.

    

    At church and at home, Alex was taught that God had a plan for everyone. But something was gnawing at her that made her feel different. These feelings exploded when she met Yvette, a girl who made Alex feel alive in a new way, and with whom Alex would quickly fall in love.Alex knew she was holding a secret that could shatter her family, her church community, and her life. Yet when this secret couldn’t be hidden any longer, she told her parents that she was gay, and the nightmare began. She was driven from her home in Southern California to Utah, where, against her will, her parents handed her over to fellow Mormons who promised to save Alex from her homosexuality.For eight harrowing months, Alex was held captive in an unlicensed “residential treatment program” modeled on the many “therapeutic” boot camps scattered across Utah. Alex was physically and verbally abused, and many days she was forced to stand facing a wall wearing a heavy backpack full of rocks. Her captors used faith to punish and terrorize her. With the help of a dedicated legal team in Salt Lake City, Alex eventually escaped and made legal history in Utah by winning the right to live under the law’s protection as an openly gay teenager.Alex is not alone; the headlines continue to splash stories about gay conversion therapy and rehabilitation centers that promise to “save” teenagers from their sexuality. Saving Alex is a courageous memoir that tells Alex’s story in the hopes that it will bring awareness and justice to this important issue. A bold, inspiring story of one girl’s fight for freedom, acceptance, and truth.

    She’s coaching one of the best Division II teams in the South. She started a successful training program for female athletes. The only regret in life is her baseball career ending after high school. Bellamy Carter is a successful accountant with her own firm, a beautiful home, and a son she adores. For most of Kevin’s life, it has been just the two of them facing the world, which leaves little time for Bellamy to miss being loved. When Sawyer comes to town to scout Kevin for a spot on the Statesmen’s roster, she turns their world upside-down. It isn’t long before Bellamy realizes that she can’t ignore Sawyer’s presence in her tidy life. When tragedy strikes, Bellamy is forced to question everything she believes about life, love and faith, leaving her wondering if she will make it out the other side.

     When they meet by chance ten years later, sparks fly, and both of them are left wondering if things could be different now. Caitlin has made it in the music industry and Emma's settled in Philadelphia with a job she loves. They both went after what they wanted in life, and love took a back seat. After all these years, will Caitlin and Emma get another chance?

    This new journal chronicles the year that began on May 3, 1982, her seventieth birthday. At her home in Maine, she savors “the experience of being alive in this beautiful place,” reflecting on nature, friends, and work. “Why is it good to be old?” she was asked at one of her lectures. “Because,” she said, “I am more myself than I have ever been.”