Our Friend is Here! Pride Month Edition – A Discussion with Min, Book Blogger; Growing Up Sapphic in Latin American and the Issue of Complex Representation

Our Friend is Here! is a guest feature at The Quiet Pond, where authors, creatives, and fellow readers, are invited to ‘visit’ the Pond! In Our Friend is Here! guest posts, our visitors (as their very own unique character!) have a friendly conversation about anything related to books or being a reader — and become friends with Xiaolong and friends.

Pride Month is a month-long event at The Quiet Pond, where during the month of June, queer authors and bookish content creators are invited to celebrate being queer, queer books, and their experiences of being a queer reader. Find the introduction post for Pride Month at The Quiet Pond here.

Something that I’m very cognizant about when it comes to Pride Month is how Western-centric and US-centric Pride Month discussions can be. Not only does every country and culture have its own unique history of Pride and what it means to be liberated, but how queerness is perceived, navigated, and reconciled is different too.

Our Friend is Here! Pride Month Edition – Holly, Blogger and Librarian; Ebb and Flow: Navigating Queerness, Chronic Illness, and Finding the Right Words

Our Friend is Here! is a guest feature at The Quiet Pond, where authors, creatives, and fellow readers, are invited to ‘visit’ the Pond! In Our Friend is Here! guest posts, our visitors (as their very own unique character!) have a friendly conversation about anything related to books or being a reader — and become friends with Xiaolong and friends.

Pride Month is a month-long event at The Quiet Pond, where during the month of June, queer authors and bookish content creators are invited to celebrate being queer, queer books, and their experiences of being a queer reader. Find the introduction post for Pride Month at The Quiet Pond here.

Across the discussions we have hosted and shared during our Pride Month series, how queerness intersects with different identities has been something we have talked about a lot. However, something we haven’t quite touched on yet – and is a space that isn’t really discussed enough – is how queerness can intersect with chronic illness.

Our Friend is Here! Pride Month Edition – Nicole, Writer and Book Blogger; On the Struggles of Coming Out as Bisexual: Religion, Relationships, and Returning Home To Yourself

Our Friend is Here! is a guest feature at The Quiet Pond, where authors, creatives, and fellow readers, are invited to ‘visit’ the Pond! In Our Friend is Here! guest posts, our visitors (as their very own unique character!) have a friendly conversation about anything related to books or being a reader — and become friends with Xiaolong and friends.

Pride Month is a month-long event at The Quiet Pond, where during the month of June, queer authors and bookish content creators are invited to celebrate being queer, queer books, and their experiences of being a queer reader. Find the introduction post for Pride Month at The Quiet Pond here.

Everyone’s journey and experience of ‘coming into’ their queer identities is unique and different to one another. For some people, they know it from an early age and, for others, it may be something that they realise with time and perhaps even in adulthood. It’s important to remember that how some people feel about their queer identities can sometimes be a fluid and changing thing. Some people may figure out their queer identity and feel comfortable with the label for a long time, but for people who may be questioning, labels may change as we find others that feel more comfortable and more like us.

Our Friend is Here! Pride Month Edition – Fadwa, Book Blogger and Booktuber, Discusses ‘I am Muslim, Queer and Not a Contradiction’

Our Friend is Here! is a guest feature at The Quiet Pond, where authors, creatives, and fellow readers, are invited to ‘visit’ the Pond! In Our Friend is Here! guest posts, our visitors (as their very own unique character!) have a friendly conversation about anything related to books or being a reader — and become friends with Xiaolong and friends.

Pride Month is a month-long event at The Quiet Pond, where during the month of June, queer authors and bookish content creators are invited to celebrate being queer, queer books, and their experiences of being a queer reader. Find the introduction post for Pride Month at The Quiet Pond here.

A conscious goal I had when organising Pride Month at The Quiet Pond was to focus and uplift intersectional queer voices. I wanted to focus on intersectional voices during my Pride Month series because how an individual’s different identities are often excluded in conversations about queer identity and what constitutes as a valid queer experience. More specifically, how other identities such as culture, race, disability, and even social class can shape and influence how queerness is navigated and experienced.

Our Friend is Here! Asian Heritage Month Edition – Mackenzie, Bookstagrammer and Book Blogger at Colour Me Read, Discusses The Girl From Everywhere – Both The Book & Herself

Our Friend is Here! is a guest feature at The Quiet Pond, where authors, creatives, and fellow readers, are invited to ‘visit’ the Pond! In Our Friend is Here! guest posts, our visitors (as their very own unique character!) have a friendly conversation about anything related to books or being a reader — and become friends with Xiaolong and friends.

Asian Heritage Month Edition is a month-long event at The Quiet Pond, where Asian authors and bookish content creators are invited to celebrate being Asian, Asian books, and the experiences of being an Asian reader. (Note: Here is an explanation of why we are calling this guest series ‘Asian Heritage Month’.)

Asian identity within itself is so incredibly diverse. From having cultural roots to East Asia to West Asia, to being part of diaspora, to the various ways Asians connect to their identities by family, history, language, or food, there is no ‘singular’ way to be Asian and to embody Asianness. Another layer to Asian identity is being part of a mixed race family where one of your cultural roots comes from Asia, which comes with its unique challenges, dynamics, and ways mixed race Asians connect to their identity.