Queer as All Get Out: 10 People Who've Inspired Me (graphic novel) by Shelby Criswell - Paul's REVIEW

*I received this book as an eARC from Street Noise Books via Edelweiss. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

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Title: Queer as All Get Out: 10 People Who've Inspired Me
Author: Shelby Criswell 
Release Date: November 23, 2021


Synopsis: This graphic novel paints a picture of the lives of 10 specific LGBTQIA people from history, framed by the personal struggles of the author to find acceptance and to carve out a meaningful life as a genderqueer person. Each chapter focuses on a different relatively little-known historical character, presented within the context of the author’s own life. Shelby Criswell’s art is fun and engaging and brings a comic book feel to this enlightening and important subject matter.

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Review: This is the kind of book I wish I had read as a young queer person. This graphic novel begins in a memoir format and then the style leads nicely into ten life stories focusing on activism and change makers. These ten people should be more well known and I hope books like this get queer history into young people's brains earlier in their life. It's important to see people like you succeed and to learn their stories, the people who made the world a better place for all of us to inhabit.

Nancy Cardenas: An activist and writer from Mexico who came out in her 30s as a lesbian and later had breast cancer. 

Ifti Nasim: A gay poet from Pakistan who was an activist at a young age.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe: A queer Black woman who was an innovator of Rock n' Roll.

We'wha: A Zuni lhamana who was born in 1849 and met with the President at the time.

Mary Jones: Born in 1849 to formerly enslaved parents and worked at brothels before being found guilty of grand larceny. 

Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld: A doctor for queer and trans folks born in Germany in 1868 who campaigned for fair treatment of queer people and the decriminalization of gay sex.

Carlett Brown: A famous intersex person who was born in 1927.

Dr. Pauli Murray: A person born in 1910 Maryland who was hunger for justice and education, but they were denied hormone treatment.

Wilmer "Little Ax" Broadnax: A musician who started out in gospel and lived as a man.

Simon Nkoli: An anti-apartheid, gay rights, and AIDS activist from South Africa.

I love educational graphic novels, especially when I learn more about queer people from history. I give this book a 5/5 and recommend it to young people interested in queer history. It's great to see a book like this that isn't focused on white cis gay men. 

--PAUL