If you enjoy reading books by Brandon Taylor then you might also like the following authors:
Sally Rooney writes thoughtful novels about young people navigating friendship, romance, and identity in modern-day Ireland. Her stories capture intimate relationships and the emotional struggles that accompany them.
Her clear, sharp writing makes her characters feel real and relatable. Check out her popular novel, Normal People, which explores a complex bond between two young people as they grow up together.
Ocean Vuong is a poet and novelist whose writing is lyrical, emotional, and deeply personal. He explores themes of identity, trauma, family, and love, often drawing inspiration from his Vietnamese-American heritage.
His beautiful prose can feel poetic, pulling readers into his story seamlessly. His novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, takes the form of a powerful letter from a son to his immigrant mother, revealing family secrets, emotions, and memories along the way.
Bryan Washington's writing is vibrant, direct, and deeply inclusive, giving voice to diverse communities and experiences. He writes openly about race, sexuality, family, and belonging with humor, warmth, and honesty.
His novel Memorial explores the complicated relationship between two young men and their respective families, blending tender emotions with sharp insights into modern relationships.
Garth Greenwell crafts novels filled with emotional depth, exploring human vulnerability, shame, desire, and complex personal relationships. His prose is clear but intensely emotional, bringing readers deep into the minds and hearts of his characters.
What Belongs to You is an evocative novel about an American teacher abroad who becomes captivated by his complicated relationship with a young Bulgarian man.
Raven Leilani delivers honest, witty portraits of young adulthood and the messy challenges of finding oneself in a turbulent world. She writes openly about race, sexuality, loneliness, and vulnerability. Her style is sharp, observant, and refreshingly direct.
Leilani's novel, Luster, focuses on a young Black woman navigating love, survival, and artistic ambition with insight, dark humor, and emotional clarity.
Akwaeke Emezi explores identity, self-discovery, and complex emotions through a fluid, thoughtful writing style. Their characters often wrestle with difficult internal struggles as they confront societal expectations and their own evolving sense of self.
In The Death of Vivek Oji, Emezi tells a moving story about community, friendship, and family in the aftermath of a tragedy, encouraging empathy and reflection on how we understand ourselves and others.
André Aciman writes elegantly and sensitively about desire, memory, and the intricacies of human relationships. His deeply reflective characters often revisit their past to examine love and longing.
In Call Me by Your Name, Aciman depicts an intense and tender romance that captures the ache, passion, and complexities of young love with lyrical and emotional depth.
Kiley Reid's stories sharply explore race, privilege, and the complexities of human relationships in contemporary settings. She blends humor, social commentary, and authenticity perfectly, creating believable characters and realistic dialogue.
In her debut novel, Such a Fun Age, Reid thoughtfully examines class tensions, cultural misunderstandings, and interracial dynamics through the lives of two women whose experiences intersect in surprising ways.
Yaa Gyasi crafts emotionally resonant narratives that feature richly layered historical and cultural contexts. She focuses on themes of family, identity, migration, and generational legacy, building compelling characters with intertwined destinies.
Gyasi's Homegoing follows two sisters and their descendants over generations as they navigate the painful legacy of slavery and colonialism, capturing history through beautifully interconnected stories and unforgettable characters.
James Baldwin wrote insightful, deeply human stories about race, sexuality, identity, and humanity. His prose is both powerful and lyrical, yet accessible, helping readers see the world through the eyes of complex, fully developed characters.
In novels like Giovanni's Room, Baldwin openly explores complex questions about love, shame, and identity in an honest and heartfelt way, revealing universal truths about human connection and vulnerability.
Douglas Stuart writes powerful and emotional stories exploring working-class lives, family relationships, and queer identity. His novel, Shuggie Bain, is set in 1980s Glasgow, where a young boy struggles with poverty and motherly bonds complicated by alcoholism.
Stuart's style is clear-eyed and tender, perfect for readers who appreciate Brandon Taylor's insightful explorations of human vulnerability.
Sheila Heti offers readers introspective, thoughtful works asking big questions about art, identity, and how to live authentically. Her novel, How Should a Person Be?, blends fiction and personal narrative to explore friendship, creativity, and self-discovery.
Like Brandon Taylor, Heti examines her characters' inner worlds with honesty and sharp observation.
Hanya Yanagihara creates rich, emotionally intense narratives that deeply explore trauma, friendship, and complex human bonds. Her novel A Little Life follows four friends through decades of hope, suffering, and love, with an unflinching depiction of pain and emotional depth.
Yanagihara's expressive prose and emotional depth are likely to connect with readers who enjoy Brandon Taylor's tender and insightful approach to character exploration.
Carmen Maria Machado blends fiction and reality, mixing genres in surprising, unsettling ways. She often explores themes of sexuality, trauma, gender, and identity with vivid storytelling and emotional honesty.
In her book Her Body and Other Parties, Machado offers imaginative, dark, and haunting short stories reflecting the complexity of women's experiences.
Readers drawn to Brandon Taylor's nuanced portrayals of identity and relationships will find Machado's writing similarly engaging.
Alexander Chee writes rich and emotionally layered narratives, often focused on identity, sexuality, and personal history. His novel, The Queen of the Night, is a lush historical story about an opera singer defined by reinvention and hidden pasts.
Chee's expressive writing and deeply developed characters will appeal to readers who appreciate Brandon Taylor's careful and insightful approaches to complex human experiences.