WPS 2026 Day 26: Naomi Rivers

  

Wonderland Pride Spotlight Day 26: Naomi Rivers

Welcome to day 26 of the 2026 Wonderland Pride Spotlight! This is my way to help champion LGBTQ+ books and authors this Pride month! Today I am interviewing Naomi Rivers. Be sure to check out my Instagram for even more excitement with this event!

Naomi Rivers' LGBTQ+ Releases

• Why Not Us?
• THIS: A Simple, Complex Love Story

The Interview

1. Are you LGBTQ+? If so, how?

"Lesbian married couple"

2. What rep do your books have?

"BIPOC and LGBTQ+ in both"

3. If you were to write in a different genre, what would it be?

"So far, we’ve made our mark writing romance and women’s fiction. If we stretched our creative chops, though, we’d love to explore new genres! Naomi, drawing on her psychology background, would write a gritty thriller in the style of Stacey Abrams or S.A. Cosby. Rivers, utilizing her naval experience, would dive into a non-fiction book to share her insights on leadership."

4. What is your biggest writing inspiration?

"Our biggest inspiration is to write stories that reflect women who look like and love like us. We’ve been lifetime readers, who have read widely, and we'd like to see more diverse stories with our experiences in the literature available. A la Toni Morrison, we’re writing the books we would like to read."

5. Anything exciting for you on the horizon?

"Yes, we’ve started book number three! Each book we've done something different, the first book, THIS: A Simple Complex Love Story we emailed chapters back and forth. Why Not Us? our second, Naomi wrote the first draft. Rivers is taking the lead on the third novel. The working title of our next novel is Jael’s Story. If you read THIS, you may remember meeting Jael, a naval officer who was about to deploy. With nearly 50 years of military service between the two of us, we thought it was time to explore a story line or two about folks wearing the cloth of our nation. Please connect with us on social media or our newsletter and we’ll share our progress and offer a sneak peek in a few months."

6. Who is a queer figure you look up to?

"There are many influential figures we could name; however, two always come to mind for Naomi - James Baldwin and Octavia Butler. James Baldwin’s wit, talent, authenticity and brilliant insight into humanity are unmatched. Likewise, Octavia Butler was just extraordinary in her prose. Our family book club read Kindred (a reread for some) last year, and we were struck by how uncannily it mirrors today’s societal climate. Her entire body of work remains incredibly relevant."

Outro

I adore this excuse to conduct little author interviews! Happy Pride everyone! Stay tuned tomorrow for another amazing indie author and their LGBTQ+ releases!