Children’s books by LGBTQ+ South Asian authors
South Asian queer protagonists in kid lit.
Ritu Weds Chandni
Published by Yali Books in 2020, this picture book won Kirkus Reviews' Best Picture Book of 2020 and 2021 South Asia Book Award Honor Book, amongst other honors.
A young girl Ayesha is excited to attend her cousin Ritu’s wedding. But not everyone is happy that the bride is marrying another bride. Can Ayesha save the big day from haters?
Author: Ameya Narvankar is a UI/UX designer in Bengaluru and alumnus of IIT-Bombay. According to his Yali Books profile, he “loves, in no particular order, cats, bearded men, and Beyoncé.”
The Boy & The Bindi
In this 2016 picture book published by Arsenal Pulp Press, a young boy is fascinated with the dot on his mother’s forehead. His mother explains the bindi’s significance and allows him to joyfully express himself without imposing gender restrictions.
Author: Vivek Shraya (she/her) is a Canadian Screen Award winner and Polaris Music Prize nominee. She also wrote I'm Afraid of Men, which was a finalist for Lambda Literary Awards in the Transgender Non-fiction category.
The Henna Wars
In this 2020 YA novel published by Page Street Kids, Nishat, a Bangladeshi Irish student from an immigrant family, develops a crush on another student Flávia, who of Afro-Brazilian and Irish descent, but the two come into conflict when Flávia and her racist white cousin appropriate the tradition of henna painting for a school competition. This coming-of-age novel is listed as one of Time magazine's 100 Best YA Books of All Time.
Author: Adiba Jaigirdar is a Bangladeshi Irish writer born in Dhaka. Jaigirdar identifies as a queer Muslim and explores the themes of racism, homophobia, cultural appropriation and Islamophobia in her work.
Since her debut novel The Henna Wars, Jaigirdar has written more teen sapphic romances with South Asian protagonists, including Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating.
Nikhil Out Loud
This middle grade novel follows the adventures of 13-year-old voice actor Nikhil Shah who relocates to a small town in Ohio, where not everyone at his new school is comfortable with his reputation as an openly gay TV star. In addition to protests from classmates’ parents over his participation in a school play, Nikhil also has to deal with his voice changing at puberty. A 2023 Lambda Literary Award Winner.
Author:
Maulik Pancholy is a US-born out gay actor of Gujarati descent and cofounder of the anti-bullying nonprofit Act to Change. He served on President Obama’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Prior to publishing Nikhil Out Loud through Balzer and Bray in 2022, Pancholy released another middle grade novel in 2019. The Best at It, which won a Stonewall Honor, is the story of a gay Indian American boy Rahul Kapoor entering 7th grade in a small town in Indiana.
More queer-friendly kid lit with South Asian authors
Toka Box's "12 Best Indian LGBTQ books for kids" lists more books with South Asian characters (authors are not necessarily LGBTQ+), including kids’ books with protagonists who defy gender stereotypes, such as “Laxmi’s Mooch” and “The Boy who Wore Bangles”; and books about families with same-sex parents, such as “Reva and Prisha”.