The Big Gay Read
In its sixth year, The Big Gay Read features a title chosen by AADL staff annually that the whole city can read, accompanied with events pertaining to the work's themes, and highlighted by an event featuring the author themselves.
The Ann Arbor District Library presents the 2026 Big Gay Read: Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle.
You can choose your favorite way to read the Read this year:
About Bury Your Gays
Bury Your Gays is a heart-pounding novel from USA Today bestselling author Chuck Tingle about what it takes to succeed in a world that wants you dead. Misha knows that chasing success in Hollywood can be hell. But finally, after years of trying to make it, his big moment is here: an Oscar nomination. And the executives at the studio for his long-running streaming series know just the thing to kick his career to the next level: kill off the gay characters, "for the algorithm," in the upcoming season finale. Misha refuses, but he soon realizes that he's just put a target on his back. And what's worse, monsters from his horror movie days are stalking him and his friends through the hills above Los Angeles. Haunted by his past, Misha must risk his entire future--before the horrors from the silver screen find a way to bury him for good.
About the Author
Chuck Tingle is a USA Today bestselling author, as well as a two time Hugo Award finalist, Bram Stoker Award nominee, Goodreads award nominee, Golden Poppy award finalist, Locus award winner, Dragon Award winner, Audie Award winner and the recipient of the 2025 Loud Hands Award for Autistic Storytellers. He is a mysterious force of energy behind sunglasses and a pink mask. He is also an anonymous author of romance, horror, and fantasy. Chuck was born in Home of Truth, Utah, and now lives in Los Angeles, California. Chuck writes to prove love is real, because love is the most important tool we have when resisting the endless cosmic void. Not everything people say about Chuck is true, but the important parts are.
THE BIG GAY READ EVENTS
Saturday, June 6 | 6:30 PM | Downtown Library
Author Event | Chuck Tingle
Chuck Tingle presents The Bury Your Gays Book Tour Spectacular! Chuck Tingle will be performing a one-time revival of the Bury Your Gays book tour, now arriving in Michigan for the first time ever! Join Chuck for a one-man show of games and revelations, with a Q&A to follow.
This event includes a signing with books for sale.
Wednesday, July 1 | 5:30 PM | Downtown Library
The Big Gay Read | Bring-Your-Own-Craft Movie Night: The X-Files
Mulder and Scully and aliens! Oh my! Join us for a screening of The X-Files (1998), which will be held with the lights up so you work on your own craft project. Coloring pages will also be provided.
This 122-minute film is rated PG-13.
Friday, July 3 | 6:00 PM | Downtown Library
The Big Gay Read | Cryptid Creature Sewing Craft
In honor of The Big Gay Read’s selected title, Chuck Tingle's Bury Your Gays, join us in making a simple felt, small cryptid, monster, or alien!
Wednesday, July 15 | 6:30 PM | Pittsfield Branch
The Big Gay Read | The Algorithm’s Gonna Get You: What Datafication Means to Queer Stories and AI in Hollywood
In Chuck Tingle’s novel Bury Your Gays, a screenwriter desperately tries to preserve authentic characters and storylines in an era increasingly driven by Big Data and AI. But how much of what the book depicts is actually true of Hollywood today? And what do queer fans have in common with union screenwriters and actors? Oakland University professor Bridget Kies examines how datafication – the increasing use of algorithms, data mining, and AI – is shaping Hollywood today, from determining which movies get made to creating synthetic actors to measuring audiences and their tastes. Today’s on-screen representation of LGBTQ characters is also subject to data-driven decision making, but, as Kies demonstrates, queer fans, much like the screenwriters and actors who went on strike in recent years, have found powerful ways to push back against this AI turn.
Monday, July 20 | 6:00 PM | Downtown Library
The Big Gay Read | Cross Stitch Black Lamb
This is no parasite in sheep’s clothing like the one that appears in Chuck Tingle's Bury Your Gays. Join AADL for a guided cross-stitch craft event for all levels of crafters. We will be stitching a cutesy, spooky black lamb. Don’t fret if you haven’t read the book–this will be fun for all!
Wednesday, July 29 | 6:30 PM | Pittsfield Branch
The Big Gay Read | Horror Movie Trivia
Did Halloween come early? Nope! It’s just horror trivia! Join Us to test your spooky knowledge of all things ghostly and Sinister! To celebrate this year’s Big Gay Read pick Bury Your Gays, a horror novel about a writer pressured to kill off his gay character by “the algorithm,” we will be Shining a light on all the Aliens and fabulous Thing(s) that go bump in the night! See you this Midsommar!
Friday, July 31 | 6:00 PM | Downtown Library
The Big Gay Read | Community Craft Night
Join AADL for an evening of crafting inspired by The 2026 Big Gay Read title Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle! We'll be constructing monstrous paper dolls, screenprinting a tote bag, making buttons, and making collages in the style of Tingleverse book covers.