Pride Month
Happy Pride Month!
Celebrate by browsing our brand new updated book lists or by checking out our featured virtual event with Ruby Barrett!
Author Reading with Ruby Barrett
Join us for a special virtual Pride Month event with celebrated queer romance writer Ruby Barrett, author of the Lambda Literary Award nominated novel The Romance Recipe! Register here to make sure you receive the Zoom link for the event, which takes places at 6pm PST on June 20th.
Hear Ruby read from her work and enjoy a conversation between Ruby and library staff about The Romance Recipe and her other work, being a queer romance author, LGBTQ+ books, and more! At the end of the event, attendees are welcome to ask Ruby questions of their own.
Ruby Barrett writes steamy romances about big feelings, featuring but not limited to: soft boys, angry girls who are secretly soft, and hot sex. Ruby is inspired by the intimate details of everyday life and always being the thirstiest friend in the group chat. Mutual pleasure, pining, and healing are common themes in her romances. Before she was a romance author, Ruby worked as a groom on a horse farm, a cigarette package warning label researcher for the Canadian Cancer Society, an essayist for a millennial parenting website, and a matchmaker where she was really good at meeting new clients but terrible at creating matches. When she’s not writing, Ruby can be found at the gym, lifting heavy things and battling toxic masculinity one gym bro at a time. And, of course, she is always reading romance. She is a bi woman who lives in Ottawa, Canada where she gets her own happily ever after with her husband and daughter. Ruby is the author of: HOT COPY and THE ROMANCE RECIPE, from Carina Press and Carina Adores; and, the short erotic fiction, “Our Fragile Mouths” featured in The Big Book of Orgasms, Vol. 2 from Cleis Press.
Pride Movie Screenings at the Sooke Library
Someone Like Me: Documentary about a a gay asylum seeker from Uganda, and a group of strangers from Vancouver’s queer community who are tasked with supporting his resettlement in Canada. Wednesday, June 7, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Rafiki: Feature film from Kenya about two teen girls, Kena and Ziki, who live very different lives in Nairobi but are drawn to each other. Soon their interest grows to affection and the girls find ways to love each other despite the ever-watching gaze of the neighbourhood. Monday, June 12, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Standing On the Line: Documentary about breaking the code of silence that prevails on the field, on the ice and in the locker room. This film takes a fresh and often moving look at some of our gay and lesbian athletes, who share their experiences with the camera. Monday, June 26, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Language Lessons: Feature film that is bittersweet, honest, and at times darkly funny and an award-winning debut from director Natalie Morales. It is a poignant, funny, and emotionally resonant exploration of platonic love between a queer man and his woman Spanish teacher in the wake of tragedy. Wednesday, June 28, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Pride Movie Screening at the Nanaimo North Library
Pride: Feature film set the UK in 1984 about the surprising and ultimately triumphant partnership between striking miners and gay and lesbian activists. Friday, June 2, 2-4pm
Pride Tissue Paper Stars at Various Branches
Check out your local branch for a take and make craft kit, so you can make your very own pride flag-themed tissue paper star! Or, if you’d like to do it at home with your own materials, you can download the instructions here: Pride Tissue Paper Stars Instructions – 2023.
Pride Digital Collections
Interested in reading 2SLGBTQ+ ebooks and digital audiobooks from the library’s digital collection? Check out these curated list on Libby:
- Pride Month Titles from our Adult Booklists (focus on new books 2022 and 2023)
- Books with LGBTQIA+ Main Characters (a mix of classic and new books)
- YA Read with Pride