Fiction
True Biz by Sara Novic
Follow the students and faculty of the River Valley School for the Deaf as they navigate various personal and political issues that can either bring them closer together or tear them apart.
A Sign of Her Own by Sarah Marsh
When Alexander Graham Bell asks Ellen, a deaf woman who was a former student of his, to support his patent for the newly developed telephone she must decide if she will give in, or risk it all to stand up for herself and Bell’s other deaf students who were betrayed by him.
A Silent Death by Peter May
Enjoy this heart-pounding thriller featuring a fugitive looking for revenge, a police officer whose whole world is taking care of her deafblind aunt, and a Scottish investigator whose task is to stop him before disaster occurs.
The Right Kind of Fool by Sarah Loudin Thomas
It’s a sweltering day in the summer of 1934 when teenager Loyal Raines decides to go swimming in a nearby river...only to find a dead body floating there! Creed Raines abandoned his son many years ago when he learned he was deaf, but he is pulled back into his life when Loyal runs to tell him about his grisly discovery. Will Creed be able to solve the murder and reconnect with his family once again?
The Hearing Test by Eliza Barry Callahan
A 20-year-old artist living in New York City, when diagnosed with sudden deafness, decides to start recording her experiences throughout the year – from good to bad, to laugh-out-loud funny – as she learns to live with her new reality.
Interesting Facts About Space by Emily R. Austin
Enid is an architect at the Space Agency and can tell you a million different facts about space. She likes to spend her time managing her fear of bald men, watching her old YouTube channel, and dating one woman after the other from various dating apps. Recently she’s started dating someone long-term, and she thinks someone is following her. Will Enid be able to stay in control of her life through the rising paranoia and personal complications?
Nonfiction
Disability Visibility: First Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century edited by Alice Wong
The activist brings together a collection of illuminating essays by people with disabilities from all walks of life, including a man who describes what’s it’s like to be deaf in prison.
Deaf Republic: Poems by Ilya Kaminsky
Through a series of poems, the award-winning author and poet tells the story of a deaf boy who is killed during a protest and how the community (also made deaf by the gunshot) must use a new language and way of life to resist and survive.
Volume Control: Hearing in a Deafening World by David Owen
Millions of people across the nation experience hearing loss in some form, and in this book the author explains the science of ears and hearing, the technologies used for hearing loss and deafness, the connections those in the deaf community can form, and most of all the importance of not letting hearing loss go untreated.
After the Miracle: The Political Crusades of Hellen Keller by Max Wallace
Most know Hellen Keller as the deafblind student who, with great struggle and sacrifice, learned to speak and communicate with the help of her teacher Annie Sullivan. This award-winning biography goes beyond the conventional story of her childhood to reveal her fierce activism and extraordinary courage as an adult in a dangerous and uncertain world.
The Invention of Miracles: Language, Power, and Alexander Graham Bell’s Quest to End Deafness by Katie Booth
Alexander Graham Bell is most famous for inventing the telephone, but his history has a darker side that most are not aware of. Professor and researcher Katie Booth covers the story of Dr. Bell’s main career focus: teaching his deaf students to speak and quashing American Sign Language all together.
Memoir/Biography
On Being Human: A Memoir of Waking Up, Living Real, and Listening Hard by Jennifer Pastiloff
This tell-all memoir by a yoga teacher and motivational speaker details her transformational time as a waitress, how she shifted to being a yoga teacher, what it’s like to grow up and live with deafness, and most of all how to thrive and love yourself through all of life’s ups and downs.
Deaf Utopia: A Memoir – and a Love Letter to a Way of Life by Nyle DiMarco
Many years before he achieved fame as a model and actor, the author was born in Queens, New York (along with his twin brother) as a Deaf boy in a multi-generational family of Deaf people. Laugh, cry and learn with him as he shares his experiences growing up and following his dreams as a Deaf person in a hearing world.
Haben: The Deafblind Woman who Conquered Harvard Law by Haben Girma
This profound and inspiring memoir tells the story of the first deafblind graduate of Harvard Law School. The author details everything from the war her refugee parents escaped, to her journey around the world as an advocate and volunteer, to the text-to-braille communication system she pioneered!
Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman’s Fight to End Ableism by Elsa Sjunneson
The author, a deafblind media studies professor, examines how TV and Film commonly portray deaf and blind people through various genres. Through her expertise, she shows how stereotypes and inaccuracies negatively affect not only the disabled community but society at large.
