Named after happiness itself, Felix hasn’t found his happily ever after yet… let alone been in love. How come everyone else makes it look so effortless? He worries that being a black transgender young man could keep him from finding love and make him a target. This fear is confirmed when he receives transphobic messages […]

This short fiction from the period of Restauration and Enlightenment tells the story of the life of the African prince Oroonoko. His grandfather, the king, marries his grandson’s love and a fiancée who is sold into slavery for participating in an uprising against the king. When Oroonoko is aboard a ship towards Europe, he is […]

“You can have anything,” she said. “Once you admit you deserve it.” No one likes to be the new kid. All Amanda wants is to blend in and find friends. That plan fades away when she meets Grant and falls for him immediately. As they spend more time together, she feels herself opening up to […]

As long as she can remember, Jazz has known she’s a girl even though those around her perceive her as a boy. She doesn’t identify with stereotypical boys’ clothing and toys and would ideally just like to be a mermaid 24/7. Her parents listen to her and take her to a doctor, who confirms that […]

This novel tells a story of loving and embracing yourself while learning to trust yourself and open up to others. To her family, teachers and peers George is a boy. George however identifies as a girl and longs to live and present herself the way she wants to. She is so excited when the school […]

14-year-old Izzy lives in a small town, goes to school and doesn’t think of her life as anything extraordinarily special or exciting. That all changes when her father comes out as a trans-woman. The story deals with Izzy’s feelings of uncertainty and fear. Will her parents divorce? Will her classmates at school gossip about her? […]

This novel narrates an unlikely friendship between two outsiders and what a difference standing up for one another can make. David longs to be a girl, but is labelled by others as gay or a freak. Leo just wants to be invisible at school, but defends David against bullies in a fight. They stick together, […]

Ben has finally gathered the courage to come out to their parents as nonbinary. But what should be the people who love them most in the world, refuse to accept Ben’s identity. They’re quick to kick Ben out, leaving them lost and alone. They have no choice but to call their estranged sister Hannah and […]

This coming-of-age autobiography by award-winning author Maya Angelou features a memoir of racism, trauma, identity and hope. The title refers to the first line of the third stanza of Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem “Sympathy” (1899), which reflected the perspective of a caged bird’s longing for freedom and its wish to escape its prison. As Dunbar’s […]

Here, four of Shakespeare’s most famous plays are rewritten for a younger audience: Twelfth Night, Macbeth, The Tempest, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. They are shorter and told from the perspective of the side characters Malvolio, Banquo, Caliban, and Peaseblossom. I, Shakespeare might be useful if you want to avoid reading the longer originals but […]

This award-winning play offers five perspectives on alienation, forced assimilation and removal, hope and the struggle to find one’s identity. It explores the stories of five Aboriginal children that were taken away from their parents by the Australian government. As part of the Stolen Generation, Sandy, Ruby, Jimmy, Anne, and Shirley have lived very different […]

This award-winning, young adult drama novel featuring racism, injustice, violence, isolation and loneliness follows a 16-year old boy who awaits his murder trial. Steve Harmon is in prison, maybe for life. They say he murdered someone; tell him he’s a monster. Is he? Or was it a case of being in the wrong place at […]

This prequel to the successful “The Hunger Games” trilogy or the movie adaptation by the same name tells the story of Coriolanus Snow’s rise to power – a story of friendship, betrayal, manipulation and oppression. For those who have read “The Hunger Games”, you might recognize the name Snow as a villain rather than a protagonist. But like all […]

This dystopian novel explores a world of surveillance and control. But is a system that thrives on total control compatible with love? What if you eliminate this factor of uncertainty by matching everyone with their “ideal” partner? The Society is in charge of everyone’s life, down to their job, partner and how many kids they […]

This distopian coming of age novel starts off the trilogy His Dark Materials, an exploration of innocence in a parallel universe ruled by a strict religious authority. At times also known as The Golden Compass, this fantastic novel follows young Lyra, a girl abandoned by her parents and instead of being brought up at prestigious Jordan College […]

This collection of twelve dystopian short stories exposes institutionalised racism, social injustice, and the devastating effects of consumerism on contemporary and near-future society. As ‘dark satires’, they explore the interconnectedness of black identity and the socio-economical realities of the US. ‘The Finkelstein Five’, for example, reveals police violence and the prejudice of the US justice system […]

This collection of poetry on depression, family, love, heartbreak, suffering and healing provides the reader with an authentic insight into the speaker’s struggle with a mental health issue. Sabrina Benaim’s poetry makes the reader aware of existing stigmata, stereotypes and discrimination of people with depression – also providing us with the notion that life and […]

Three voices loudly recall stereotypical ‘rules’ for people of colour and thereby outline injustice, prejudice and racial bias in contemporary society. Marvin Hodges, Em Allison and Saidu Tejan-Thomas’ spoken word poem provide the audience with a shocking paradigm shift, confronting them with everyday racisms. Text and performance can serve as a great example of young […]