Written by SJPL Librarian, Laurel Papadopoulos
What is Asexuality Visibility Day?
Asexuality Visibility Day, also referred to as International Asexuality Day (IAD), is an annual celebration that takes place on April 6th. Asexuality Visibility Day is about the recognition of the international asexual (or ace, for short) community, and all identities within the ace community. Asexuality is often used as an umbrella term to include many related sexual and romantic identities, including, but not limited to, grey-asexual, demisexual, and aromanticism. The central themes of Asexuality Visibility Day are:
- Advocacy
- Celebration
- Solidarity
- Education
What is Asexuality?
Asexuality is a sexual orientation where a person experiences little to no sexual attraction to another person. Just like with other sexual identities or orientations, being ace is a complex and singular experience and doesn’t necessarily look the same for every asexual-identifying person. Some asexual people pursue romantic relationships, while some don’t have any desire for romantic relationships. It is important to remember that just because folks who identify as asexual experience sexual attraction differently or not at all, they’re still caring people capable of complex emotions and connection like anyone else.
At San Jose Public Library, we provide affirming and safe spaces for all. Our catalog includes books and other materials that either include asexual identifying characters or are written or created by those who identify as asexual.
Titles featuring Asexual Characters
Here are some recommended books featuring asexual main characters, their stories, and their impact on the world around them.
The Summer of Bitter and Sweet, by Jen Ferguson
Lou has enough confusion in front of her this summer. She'll be working in her family's ice-cream shack with...her former best friend, King, who is back in their Canadian prairie town after disappearing three years ago...But when she gets a letter from her biological father...Lou immediately knows that she cannot meet him...While King's friendship makes Lou feel safer...when her family's business comes under threat, she soon realizes that she can't ignore her father forever.
Also available as an ebook and downloadable audiobook.
Love Letters for Joy, by Melissa See
Less than a year away from graduation, seventeen-year-old Joy is too busy overachieving to be worried about relationships. She's determined to be Caldwell Prep's first disabled valedictorian. And she only has one person to beat, her academic rival Nathaniel. But it's senior year and everyone seems to be obsessed with pairing up. One of her best friends may be developing feelings for her and the other uses Caldwell's anonymous love-letter writer to snag the girl of her dreams. Joy starts to wonder if she has missed out on a quintessential high school experience. She is asexual, but that's no reason she can't experience first love, right? She writes to Caldwell Cupid to help her sort out these new feelings and, over time, finds herself falling for the mysterious voice behind the letters. But falling in love might mean risking what she wants most, especially when the letter-writer turns out to be the last person she would ever expect.
Dare Mighty Things, by Heather Kaczynski
The rules are simple: You must be gifted. You must be younger than twenty-five. You must be willing to accept the dangers that you will face if you win. Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Gupta's entire life has been leading up to this -- the opportunity to travel to space. But to secure a spot on this classified mission, she must first compete against the best and brightest people on the planet. People who are as determined as she to win a place on a journey to the farthest reaches of the universe. Cassie is ready for the toll that the competition will take; the rigorous mental and physical tests designed to push her to the brink of her endurance. But nothing could have prepared her for the bonds she would form with the very people she hopes to beat. Or that with each passing day it would be more and more difficult to ignore the feeling that the true objective of the mission is being kept from her. As the days until the launch tick down and the stakes rise higher than ever before, only one thing is clear to Cassie: she'll never back down... even if it costs her everything.
Let’s Talk About Love, by Claire Kann
Alice's last girlfriend, Margo, ended things when Alice confessed she's asexual. Now Alice is sure she's done with dating... and then she meets Takumi. She can't stop thinking about him or the rom-com-grade romance feelings she did not ask for. When her blissful summer takes an unexpected turn and Takumi becomes her knight with a shiny library-employee badge, Alice has to decide if she's willing to risk their friendship for a love that might not be reciprocated-- or understood.
Every Heart a Doorway, by Seanan McGuire
Children have always disappeared from Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere... else. But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children. Nancy tumbled once, but now she's back. The things she's experienced... they change a person. The children under Miss West's care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world. But Nancy's arrival marks a change at the Home. There's a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it's up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter. No matter the cost.
She Who Became the Sun, by Shelley Parker-Chan
In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness... In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family's eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family's clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected. When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother's identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate. After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu takes the chance to claim another future altogether: her brother's abandoned greatness.
Explore more!
Please check out our LGBTQIA+ Resources Page, opens a new window, which is full of thoughtfully created Staff Pick Lists of books for all ages and in different languages, spotlighted electronic resources, and a space to catch up on our blogs related to the LGBTQIA+ experience. We also have a list of links to local community- based organizations and agencies for folks to find support, access to affirming physical and mental health care, and community:
Organizations Supporting the LGBTQ+ Community
At San Jose Public Library, you are welcome just as you are.
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