Four Favorite Queer Books at Under the Umbrella

It is the goal of Under the Umbrella owner Kaitlyn Mahoney to one day have the largest retail selection of queer books in the universe. Luckily, they’re already well on their way, as Under the Umbrella remains one of only a handful of queer-focused bookstores in the country.

“Back in the `70s and `80s, gay bookstores were huge,” Mahoney says. “We had one in Salt Lake in fact, in the `80s, called 20 Rue Jacob. But print, retail, bookstores … all these things are very difficult, and they all closed for one reason or another. There were basically no others when I decided to open Under the Umbrella.” But despite the somewhat recent appearance of more of these shops nationally, it can still be challenging to find retail bookstores where every book on the shelves is written by queer authors, contains queer characters or covers queer themes.

This “exclusively inclusive” selection is what Under the Umbrella strives to uphold. “We try to make sure that, when you come in and you look at a display, you’re seeing diverse, marginalized voices front-and-center,” Mahoney says. “Because the publishing world isn’t pushing those, and so we’re trying to support them when other people are not.”

This has to do partially with Mahoney’s understanding of the importance that queer stories have in both broadening horizons and building empathy. In June 2022, SLUG Senior Staff Writer Parker Scott Mortensen spoke with Mahoney about how reading helped them discover their own queer identity, after being raised LDS in Provo.

“I made a choice to go a year without reading any white men,” Mahoney remembers. “But then I noticed that I kind of just swapped white men for white women. I was like, ‘Okay, let’s try not to read white American authors at all anymore.’” It was in this vein that Mahoney began searching out queer books, and it was this search that brought them to the founding of Under the Umbrella in 2021.

Now Mahoney finds themself having to make difficult decisions when curating the shop’s selection. This decision process inevitably requires an inspiring amount of reading and keeps them well up on the state of queer books. So when I sat down with Mahoney to discuss their current favorites, they understandably had a lot to offer.

Here are Under the Umbrella owner Kaitlyn Mahoney’s four favorite (recent) queer books.

Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson
By Tourmaline
Published: May 2025 

As the first biography of the Black, trans activist Marsha P. Johnson, who was integral in the Stonewall uprising and fought for many of the rights the queer community has today, this book is important because it explores Johnson in her entirety, rather than posing her as just a figurehead of an albeit vital movement.

“[Stonewall] is kind of the end of the story that most people know about her,” Mahoney says. “But there’s so much more about her. She acted, she sang, she performed with a drag band in the `70s and `80s.”

Mahoney also commented on how the new biography humanizes the public figure of Johnson. “As I was reading it, I was like, ‘Who’s the Marsha right now that isn’t getting their flowers?’” they say. “She was a homeless, trans woman of color. She did drugs, she had mental health issues and yet she was so important in our history. Who are we overlooking right now that is doing the same kind of work and isn’t getting the attention, respect and resources that they deserve?”

Tourmaline also wrote a children’s picture book version of the biography called One Day in June, which is illustrated by Charlot Kristensen. Both are available at Under the Umbrella. “It’s so important [to have] children’s books, especially when we’re having all these book bans. Having these books available for queer kids is life-saving,” Mahoney says.

Death of the Author
By Nnedi Okorafor
Published: January 2025

Nnedi Okorafor is a Nigerian American writer who has explored elements of queerness throughout the characters and stories of several of her sci-fi and fantasy novels, works which have also made her a New York Times bestselling novelist.

Death of the Author, Okorafor’s latest, is about a disabled writer whose own sci-fi novel explodes in popularity, causing her to grapple with a sort of fallout and leading to drastic life changes. Its pages contain a book within a book and its themes deal with issues of disability, identity and the power of storytelling.

“It’s just such an interesting structural concept and really beautifully written,” Mahoney says. “There’s commentary on somebody who has access to more expensive mobility aids and how that makes them a sort of traitor to their disability.”

My Government Means to Kill Me
By Rasheed Newson
Published: August 2022

The first and only novel by television writer Rasheed Newson, My Government Means to Kill Me is a “beautiful and harrowing” piece of historical fiction, Mahoney says. It follows a young Black man who moves to New York City in the `80s and gets involved with social issues faced by Black Americans in neighborhoods like Harlem and Brooklyn. The character has a fictional encounter with civil rights activist Bayard Rustin in a New York City bathhouse, meets famed playwright and gay activist Larry Kramer, goes through intense training for protesting, joins the nonprofit ACT UP and provides treatment to AIDS patients alongside a team of lesbians (because other nurses wouldn’t go near them).

“I think I kind of have an obsession with our history, maybe,” Mahoney says half-jokingly, half-seriously. It is true that Mahoney’s predilection for queer history is not a passing interest. Queer history, especially in written form, has been intentionally erased in the past, so it’s authors like Newson that carry the torch now, whether by regaling us with truthful recountings or reinventing important characters.

“It was really well done, and there’s this point near the end that still haunts me,” Mahoney says of the book. “I don’t want to give it away, but it really makes me think about what I owe my community, what I’m willing to do for my community and how we do and do not make the right choices for our community.”

Flirting Lessons
By Jasmine Guillory
Published: April 2025

The first sapphic romance by New York Times bestselling author Jasmine Guillory, Flirting Lessons is akin to Hitch with lesbians. Protagonist Avery Jensen, fresh off dating a man, is looking to finally pursue women, but doesn’t know exactly how. “I think it’s a pretty common thing for queer women — compulsory heterosexuality is a big thing,” Mahoney says. “But it was cool to see [Avery] being free enough to embrace this side of her and take flirting lessons, and all because she’s worried. She’s not sure she’ll be able to do it, quote unquote, ‘right.’”

But in addition to those semi-intense and relatable themes, this book is also just pure entertainment. “It’s just this really fun, flirty, romance between two very sexy lesbians,” says Mahoney.

Each of these titles is available for purchase at Under the Umbrella. To learn more about their selection or to sign up for their newsletter, visit their website at undertheumbrellabookstore.com. You can also keep up to date with their daily events calendar, found in-store and on their website, or follow them on Instagram at @undertheumbrellabookstore.

Read more LGBTQ+ stories from SLUG:
Dykes on Bikes: Riding with Pride
Talking Trans Joy & Resistance with Genderbands