Outside the XY: Queer, Black and Brown Masculinity, A Bklyn Boihood Anthology (Riverdale Avenue Books, 2016), edited by Morgan Mann Willis.

Take Out: Queer Writing from Asian Pacific America (Temple University Press, 2000), edited by Quang Bao and Hanya Yanagihara.

Voices Rising: Celebrating 20 Years of Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Writing (RedBone Press, 2007), edited by G. Winston James and Other Countries.

Mariposas: A Modern Anthology of Queer Latino Poetry (Floricanto Press, 2008), edited by Emanuel Xavier.

Mouths of Rain: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Thought (The New Press, 2021), edited by Briona Simone Jones.

In assembling the list below, the words of Morgan Mann Willis came to mind from the editor’s note to Outside the XY: Queer Black and Brown Masculinity, A Bklyn Boihood Anthology (2016). Willis referred to the volume as a diverse quilt of voices from several continents, old and young, disabled and able-bodied, and so on. The book is formed from “stitched together pieces span[ning] the range of time and space. Willis also observes, “Everyone in this collection is brave and has been generous with the fabric of their hearts.”[1] This exhibit, as well as the list below, attempts to piece together forty years of literary history The list below is its own quilt; encompassing nearly fifty anthologies and more than 1,200 individual contributors, it is a testament to the bravery, generosity, and diversity of the editors and authors that produced them.

This list, in chronological order, features literary anthologies  organized exclusively at the intersections or race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. The volumes listed below are diverse in the identities around which they were organized, but also the genres they gathered, with some focused on specific genres such as autobiography or poetry. Some anthologies gathered the work of a handful of contributors while others collected that of dozens of writers. Some volumes included the work of visual artists. Between the Lines (1987), for example, featured woodcuts by one of the authors and photography of the writers enjoying themselves in a local park. Though many of these works center the work of U.S.-based writers, some are more transnational in focus or gather the work of artists in the United Kingdom or South Asia, as is the case with Black and Gay in the UK: An Anthology (2015) and The World That Belongs to Us: An Anthology of Queer Poetry from South Asia (2020). Some of these anthologies take a historical approach, gathering generations of writing in works such as Mouths of Rain: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Thought (2021). Finally, this list excludes reissues, second and expanded editions, etc. Anthologies of scholarly works organized at these intersections are also excluded.

Beck, Evelyn Torton, ed. Nice Jewish Girls: A Lesbian Anthology. Watertown, MA: Persephone, 1982.

Smith, Michael J., ed. Black Men/White Men: A Gay Anthology. San Francisco: Gay Sunshine, 1983.

Alarcón, Francisco X. , Juan Pablo Gutierrez and Rodrigo Reyes. Ya Vas Carnal. San Francisco: Humanizarte, 1985.

Beam, Joseph, ed. In the Life: A Black Gay Anthology. Boston: Alyson, 1986.

Chung, Cristy, Alison Kim, and A. Kaweah Lemeshewsky, eds. Between the Lines: An Anthology by Pacific/Asian Lesbians of Santa Cruz, California. Santa Cruz: Dancing Bird, 1987.

Humphries, Martin, ed. Tongues Untied: Poems. London: GMP, 1987.

Ramos, Juanita, ed. Compañeras: Latina Lesbians: An Anthology. New York: Latina Lesbian History Project, 1987.

Johnson, Cary Alan. Other Countries: Black Gay Voices. New York: Other Countries, 1988.

Roscoe, Will, ed. Living the Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology. New York: St. Martin’s, 1988.

Hemphill, Essex, ed. Brother to Brother: New Writings by Black Gay Men. Boston: Alyson, 1991.

Saint, Assotto, ed. The Road before Us: 100 Gay Black Poets. New York: Galiens, 1991.

Silvera, Makeda, ed. Piece of My Heart: A Lesbian of Colour Anthology. Toronto: Sister Vision, 1991.

Trujillo, Carla, ed. Chicana Lesbians: The Girls Our Mothers Warned Us About. Berkeley: Third Woman, 1991.

Saint, Assotto, ed. Here to Dare: 10 Gay Black Poets. New York: Galiens, 1992.

Hunter, B. Michael, ed. Sojourner: Black Gay Voices in the Age of AIDS. New York: Other Countries, 1993.

Lim-Hing, Sharon, ed. The Very inside: An Anthology of Writing by Asian and Pacific Islander Lesbian and Bisexual Women. Toronto: Sister Vision, 1994.

McKinley, Catherine E., and L. Joyce DeLaney, eds. Afrekete: An Anthology of Contemporary Black Lesbian Writings. New York: Anchor Books, 1995.

Vega, ed. Milking Black Bull: 11 Gay Black Poets. Sicklerville, NJ: Vega, 1995.

Morrow, Bruce, and Charles H. Rowell, eds. Shade: An Anthology of Fiction by Gay Men of African Descent. New York: Avon Books, 1996.

Ruff, Shawn Stewart, ed. Go the Way Your Blood Beats: An Anthology of Lesbian and Gay Literary Fiction by African-American Writers. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1996.

Douglas, Debbie, Courtney McFarlane, Makeda Silvera, and Douglas Stewart, eds. Má-Ka: Diasporic Juks: Contemporary Writing by Queers of African Descent. Toronto: Sister Vision, 1997.

Moore, Lisa C., ed. Does Your Mama Know?: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Coming Out Stories. Decatur, GA: RedBone, 1997.

Cortez, Jaime, ed. Virgins, Guerrillas & Locas: Gay Latinos Writing on Love. San Francisco: Cleis, 1999.

Guerra, Erasmo, ed. Latin Lovers: True Stories of Latin Men in Love. New York: Painted Leaf, 1999.

Manrique, Jaime, and Jesse Dorris, eds. Bésame Mucho. New Gay Latino Fiction. New York: Painted Leaf, 1999.

Smith, Charles Michael, ed. Fighting Words: Personal Essays by Black Gay Men. New York: Avon Books, 1999.

Bao, Quang, and Hanya Yanagihara, eds. Take Out: Queer Writing from Asian Pacific America. New York: Asian American Writers Workshop, 2000.

Carbado, Devon W., Dwight A. McBride, Donald Weise, and Evelyn C. White, eds. Black like Us: A Century of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual African American Fiction. San Francisco: Cleis, 2002.

Kumashiro, Kevin K., ed. Restoried Selves: Autobiographies of Queer Asian/Pacific American Activists. New York: Routledge, 2004.

Harris, E. Lynn, ed. Freedom in This Village: Twenty-Five Years of Black Gay Men’s Writing, 1979 to the Present. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2005.

Acevedo, David Caleb, Moisés Agosto Rosario, and Luis Negrón, eds. Los otros cuerpos: antología de temática gay, lésbica y queer desde Puerto Rico y su diáspora. San Juan: Editorial Tiempo Nuevo, 2007.

James, G. Winston and Other Countries eds. Voices Rising: Celebrating 20 Years of Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Writing. Washington, DC: Redbone, 2007.

Glave, Thomas, ed. Our Caribbean: A Gathering of Lesbian and Gay Writing from the Antilles. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2008.

Xavier, Emanuel, ed. Mariposas: A Modern Anthology of Queer Latino Poetry. Moorpark, CA: Floricanto, 2008.

Smith, R. Bryant, and Darius Omar Williams, eds. Mighty Real: An Anthology of African American Same Gender Loving Writing. Cleveland: Effusses/Sangha, 2010.

Driskill, Qwo-Li, Daniel Heath Justice, Deborah A. Miranda, and Lisa Tatonetti, eds. Sovereign Erotics: A Collection of Two-Spirit Literature. Tuscon: University of Arizona Press, 2011.

Lima, Lázaro, and Felice Picano, eds. Ambientes: New Queer Latino Writing. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2011.

Rice-González, Charles, and Charlie Vázquez, eds. From Macho to Mariposa: New Gay Latino Fiction. Maple Shade, NJ: Tincture, 2011.

Gordon, John R and Rikki Beadle Blair. Black and Gay in the UK: An Anthology. London: Team Angelica, 2014.

Quesada, Uriel, Letitia Gomez, and Salvador Vidal-Ortiz, eds. Queer Brown Voices: Personal Narratives of Latina/o LGBT Activism. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2015.

Willis, Morgan Mann, ed. Outside the XY: Queer, Black and Brown Masculinity, A Bklyn Boihood Anthology. Riverdale, NY: Riverdale Avenue Books, 2016.

Allen, S. Andrea and Lauren Cherelle, eds. Solace: Writing, Refuge, & LGBTQ Women of Color. Clayton, NC: BLF, 2017

Arroyo Pizarro, Yolanda, ed. Las mujeres si hablan asi: antología LGBTTQI en honor a Nemir Matos Cintrón. Carolina, Puerto Rico: Boreales, 2017.

Peña, Ellyn, Jamie Berrout, and Venus Selenite, eds. Nameless Woman: An Anthology of Fiction by Trans Women of Color. Anaheim, CA: Trans Women Writers Collective, 2017.

Soto, Christopher, ed. Nepantla: An Anthology for Queer Poets of Color. New York: Nightboat Books, 2018.

Angiras, Aditi, and Akhil Katyal, eds. The World That Belongs to Us: An Anthology of Queer Poetry from South Asia. Uttar Pradesh, India: HarperCollins, 2020.

Jones, Briona Simone. Mouths of Rain: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Thought. New York: The New, 2021.

Jahshan, Elias, ed. This Arab Is Queer: An Anthology by LGBTQ+ Arab Writers. London: Saqi Books, 2022.

Pelaez Lopez, Alan, ed. When Language Broke Open: An Anthology of Queer and Trans Black Writers of Latin American Descent. Tuscon: University of Arizona Press, 2023.

Further Reading

Although these volumes (also in chronological order) are not exclusively collections of work at the intersection of queer and ethnoracial identities, they are recognized as inspirations by some of the anthologies collected above:

Blicksilver, Edith, ed. Ethnic American Woman. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt, 1978.

Moraga, Cherríe, and Gloria Anzaldúa, eds. This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. Watertown, MA: Persephone , 1981.

Smith, Barbara, ed. Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology. Latham, NY: Kitchen Table, 1983.

Cruikshank, Margaret, ed. New Lesbian Writing: An Anthology. San Francisco: Grey Fox, 1984.

Alarcón, Norma, Castillo, Ana, Cherríe Moraga, eds. The Sexuality of Latinas. Berkeley, CA: Third Woman, 1993.

[1] Willis, Morgan Mann, ed., Outside the XY: Queer, Black and Brown Masculinity, A Bklyn Boihood Anthology (Riverdale, NY: Riverdale Avenue Books, 2016), 1.