by Rachel A. Rosen

Every so often I come across a book that forces me to text half a dozen people I know and scream at them to drop what they’re doing and read it now now now. This is one of those books. It’s 12 memories, collected from 12 queer and trans people, in their own words. Some of them are funny, others heartwarming, still others, like the opening story of a 14-year-old who cares for the friends of his leather daddy as they die of AIDS, are devastating. After each story, Robin has embroidered a piece that stands as a symbolic representation of the story.

This is a piece that falls in the tradition of the quilts of enslaved people leading each other to freedom, the Chilean arpilleras telling the stories of the disappeared, the AIDS Memorial Quilt preserving the lives and deaths of people that the government wanted everyone to forget. It’s also very much its own unique thing. The care put into each story and each textile piece is incredible—it is a love letter to queer communities and a truly outstanding work of art. You can buy it here.