Episodes

  • Jeff Gavin’s Magic and Keith Haring at the Walker Art Center
    May 7 2024

    A new episode of This Queer Book Saved My Life drops next week on May 11th! In our off weeks, we air the most recent episode of The Gaily Show which J.P. hosts for AM950 Radio.

    On today’s episode, Jeff Gavin’s debut album Magic is out now and we have clips from three tracks. Plus, Keith Haring: Art is For Everyone just opened at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. The exhibit runs through September and features over 100 of Keith’s artworks, including videos of his residency at the Walker from 1984.

    Listen to Jeff Gavin's Magic: songwhip.com/jeffgavin/magic

    More information on Keith Haring: Art is for Everybody: https://walkerart.org/calendar/2024/keith-haring-art-is-for-everybody/

    Watch on YouTube
    We're in video too! You can watch this episode at youtube.com/@thegailyshow

    Support the Show.

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    31 mins
  • Loveless with Jake Mier
    Apr 30 2024

    They say what matters most is love. But for a lot of us...that’s not what matters most.

    Today we meet Jake Mier and we’re talking about the book that saved their life: Loveless by Alice Oseman.

    Jake lives in the Twin Cities and works in restorative justice.

    Loveless is the funny, honest, messy, completely relatable story of Georgia, who doesn't understand why she can't crush and kiss and make out like her friends do. She's surrounded by the narrative that dating + sex = love. It's not until she gets to college that she discovers the A range of the LGBTQIA+ spectrum -- coming to understand herself as asexual/aromantic. Disrupting the narrative that she's been told since birth isn't easy -- there are many mistakes along the way to inviting people into a newly found articulation of an always-known part of your identity.

    Jake's Ace/Aro Book Recommendations
    Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann
    The City of Spires (series) by Claudie Arseneualt
    Elatsoe and A Snake Falls To Earth by Darcy Little Badger

    Our Bookshop
    Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook

    To purchase Loveless visit: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9781338751932

    Become an Associate Producer!
    Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook

    Credits
    Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian
    Executive Producer: Jim Pounds
    Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Nicole Olila, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith
    Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard.
    Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
    Music and SFX credits: visit thiqueerbook.com/music

    Quatrefoil Library
    Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can't buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1

    Support the Show.

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    35 mins
  • Catching the Queer Spirit!
    Apr 23 2024

    That moment when you meet kindred queer spirits in podcasting.

    Today we have a special cross-pollination episode with the Queer Spirit podcast. The Queer Spirit podcast has conversations with embodied artists, practitioners and activists who care for, enliven and empower our 2SLGBTQ+ communities to thrive + flourish. Their hosts are Nick Venegoni, MA (he>they) and TanyaMarck Oviedo (they/them).

    Nick is a holistic psychotherapist based on unceded Ohlone territory (San Francisco, CA), where he supports queer folks to heal from trauma and anxiety, to create more joyful lives and fulfilling relationships. Nick’s primary spiritual practices these days include Earth based wisdom, Buddhist Psychology, Mindfulness meditation, and sound healing.

    TanyaMarck is an intuitive + trauma informed practitioner, guide, mentor, educator, witch, and medicine person who identifies as a queer, non-binary, native indigenous being of color, and person in recovery. Their healing arts practice (Vamonos) and home are based out of Tongva + Kizh and Chumash lands (Long Beach, CA).

    Connect with Queer Spirit
    website: queerhealingjourneys.com/podcast
    instagram: @holisticqueerhealing
    facebook: facebook.com/queerhealingjourneys

    Our Bookshop
    Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook

    Become an Associate Producer!
    Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook

    Credits
    Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian
    Executive Producer: Jim Pounds
    Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Nicole Olila, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith
    Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard.
    Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
    Music and SFX credits: visit thiqueerbook.com/music

    Quatrefoil Library
    Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can't buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1

    Support the Show.

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    45 mins
  • Love Lives Here with Archie Arnold and Rowan Jetté Knox
    Apr 16 2024

    All the love in our queer families.

    Today we meet Archie Arnold and we’re talking about the book that saved his life: Love Lives Here: A Story of Thriving in a Transgender Family by Rowan Jetté Knox.

    Archie is a grant writer working at a community college in Minnesota. His career in grants and fundraising spans twenty years.

    Rowan Jetté Knox is an author, speaker and human rights advocate. His work in LGBTQ2S+ inclusion and mental health awareness has sparked change worldwide. was humbled to be inducted into the 2021 Order of Ottawa for his advocacy of transgender, gender-creative, and non-binary youth.

    Love Lives Here: A Story of Thriving in a Transgender Family is an inspirational story of accepting and embracing two trans people in a family--a family who shows what's possible when you "lead with love.". Told with remarkable candor and humor, and full of insight into the challenges faced by trans people, Love Lives Here is a beautiful story of transition, frustration, support, acceptance, and, of course, love.

    Content warning: This episode contains brief mentions of interpersonal violence and suicide.

    Connect with Rowan
    website: rowanjetteknox.com
    instagram: @maven_of_mayhem
    facebook: facebook.com/mavenofmayhem
    bluesky: @mavenofmayhem.bsky.social

    Our Bookshop
    Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook

    To purchase Becoming A Man: Half A Life Story visit: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9780735235175

    Become an Associate Producer!
    Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook

    Credits
    Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian
    Executive Producer: Jim Pounds
    Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Nicole Olila, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith
    Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard.
    Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
    Music and SFX credits: visit thiqueerbook.com/music

    Quatrefoil Library
    Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can't buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1

    Support the Show.

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    52 mins
  • Becoming a Man with K Jason Bryan
    Apr 2 2024

    As gay kids we have to get through so much that we end up not remembering a lot of our childhoods.

    Today we meet K Jason Bryan and we’re talking about the book that saved his life: Becoming A Man: Half A Life Story by Paul Monette.

    Jason is a Sr Client Consultant for corporate insurance, and used to chair his company’s LGBT & Allies ERG. He is a former member of the Governors Board at the Human Rights Campaign. He also served as the Membership Director at Quorum, Minnesota's LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce.

    Becoming A Man: Half A Life Story won the National Book Award and the LAMBDA Literary Award. Paul Monette was haunted, and finally saved, by a dream, "The thing I'd never even seen: two men in love and laughing." This searingly honest, witty, and humane merging of memoir and manifesto has become the definitive coming out story--and a classic of the coming-of-age genre.

    Hear more Romanovsky and Phillips!
    website: romanovskyandphillips.com
    Featured song in this episode: "When Heterosexism Strikes" from their album Be Political, Not Polite (1991)

    Connect with Jason
    Facebook: facebook.com/kjason.bryan

    Our Bookshop
    Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook

    To purchase Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story visit: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9780060595647

    Become an Associate Producer!
    Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook

    Credits
    Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian
    Executive Producer: Jim Pounds
    Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Nicole Olila, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith
    Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard.
    Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
    Permission to use a clip from "When Heterosexism Strikes" provided by Romanovsky and Phillips
    Music and SFX credits: visit thiqueerbook.com/music

    Quatrefoil Library
    Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can't buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1

    Support the Show.

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    33 mins
  • Swinging on the Garden Gate with Sandy Hope and Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew
    Mar 19 2024

    No one ever told me that I could be divine. That my sexuality was a gift.

    Today we meet Sandy Hope and we’re talking about the book that saved her life: Swinging on the Garden Gate by Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew. And Elizabeth joins us for the conversation!

    Sandy is a licensed mental health counselor whose practice focuses Internal Family Systems theory. She works with people around sexuality, spirituality, couples therapy, and people who struggle with eating disorders.

    Elizabeth is an author, writing coach, spiritual director, and co-founder of the Eye of the Heart Center.

    Swinging on the Garden Gate: A Memoir of Bisexuality and Spirit describes a period of time in award-winning writer and teacher Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew's life when she came to know bisexuality as an embodied manifestation of divinity. Andrew not only reconciles her United Methodist faith with her sexuality but realizes that her body is holy, her sexuality is holy, and the word she carried within her has always been holy.

    Connect with Sandy and Elizabeth
    Sandy's website: sandrahopecounseling.com
    Elizabeth's websites: elizabethjarrettandrew.com and spiritualmemoir.com
    Eye of the Heart Center: eyeoftheheartcenter.org

    Our Bookshop
    Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook

    To purchase Swinging on the Garden Gate visit: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9781558968783

    Become an Associate Producer!
    Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook

    Credits
    Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian
    Executive Producer: Jim Pounds
    Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryant and David Rephan, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Nicole Olila, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith
    Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard.
    Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
    Music and SFX credits: visit thiqueerbook.com/music

    Quatrefoil Library
    Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can't buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1

    Support the Show.

    Show more Show less
    48 mins
  • Dress Your Family In Corduroy and Denim with Jacob Budenz
    Mar 5 2024

    Everyone calls me ma'am on the phone. I love it.

    Today we meet Jacob Budenz and we’re talking about the book that saved their life: Dress Your Family In Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris.

    Jacob is a true multi-hyphenate: musician, author, performance artist, director, and witch. Jacob published their new book Tea Leaves in 2023 and is the front person for the band Moth Broth.

    Dress Your Family In Corduroy and Denim is an essay collection where David Sedaris lifts the corner of ordinary life, revealing the absurdity teeming below its surface. His world is alive with obscure desires and hidden motives -- a world where forgiveness is automatic and an argument can be the highest form of love.

    Connect with Jacob
    Website: jakebeearts.com
    Instagram: @dreambabyjake

    Our Bookshop
    Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook

    To purchase Dress Your Family In Corduroy and Denim visit: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9780316010795

    Become an Associate Producer!
    Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook

    Credits
    Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian
    Executive Producer: Jim Pounds
    Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryant and David Rephan, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Nicole Olila, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith
    Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard.
    Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
    Permission to use clips from the tracks Baba Yaga and Fairy Queen performed by Moth Broth provided by Jacob Budenz.
    Audio clip from Dress Your Family In Corduroy and Denim read by David Sedaris is used here under the Fair Use doctrine for the purposes of literary commentary and criticism.
    Music and SFX credits: visit thiqueerbook.com/music

    Quatrefoil Library
    Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can't buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1

    Support the Show.

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    44 mins
  • Am I Blue with Ricardo Galaviz and Bruce Coville
    Feb 20 2024

    When a closeted queer kid meets his fairy godfather what does he wish for?

    Today we meet Ricardo Galaviz and we’re talking about the book that saved his life: Am I Blue? by Bruce Coville. And Bruce joins us for the conversation!

    Ricardo (all pronouns) is the Associate Director of the Milwaukee LGBT Center.

    Bruce (he/him) is the author of over 100 books including My Teacher is an Alien, Into the Land of Unicorns, and Jeremy Hatcher, Dragon Hatcher.

    Am I Blue? Coming Out From The Silence is an anthology of short stories edited by Marion Dane Bauer and the title comes from the Bruce's short story Am I Blue? in which a fairy godfather offers a young queer kid three wishes.

    Read more!
    The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote a fantastic article about this episode. Many thanks to Amy Schwabe!

    Connect with Ricardo and Bruce
    Ricardo's website: mkelgbt.org
    Bruce's website: brucecoville.com

    Our Bookshop
    Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook

    To purchase Am I Blue? visit Bruce's website: brucecoville.com

    Become an Associate Producer!
    Become an Associate Producer of our LGBT podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook

    Credits
    Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian
    Executive Producer: Jim Pounds
    Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Nicole Olila, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith
    Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard.
    Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
    Music and SFX credits: visit thiqueerbook.com/music

    Quatrefoil Library
    Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can't buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1

    Support the Show.

    Show more Show less
    45 mins