Welcome to IHS’s Great Pride Giveaway!
June is a special month for us at IHS Headquarters because it’s Pride season. Which means rainbows galore! That makes us truly happy because one of our missions in life is to spread rainbows and to show our pride every single day.
PRIDE PHOTO
TB and Miranda had a special photo shoot at Miranda’s parents’ house to snap many Pride photos like this one:
TB here. When I started to cross my leg, Miranda shouted, “Don’t do it. Your back.” The thing is, while it hurts to put it in this position, once I’m set, it feels good. I’m constantly trying to stretch in hopes the tightness in my lower back and hip will finally release. A fun fact about this photo, Miranda’s kiddos did the chalk art for the photos.
GREAT PRIDE EBOOK GIVEAWAY
We asked authors to donate eBooks for a massive giveaway and wowzers, so many authors are taking part. Every day in June, there will be a new eBook giveaway. So not only will you see another pride photo, but you can enter to win loads of eBooks!
A few things about the giveaway. They’re open internationally. Authors will be responsible for delivering the eBooks. You WILL NOT be signed up to anyone’s newsletter when you enter.
Today’s giveaway has 53 books involved. One winner will be selected on June 18. That’s right. One lucky reader will get 53 books!
THE JUNE 14 WINNER HAS BEEN NOTIFIED
We’re thrilled to announce the fourteenth Great Pride Giveaway winner has been sent an email. They won 55 eBooks featured on June 14, 2025.
The winner for June 15 will be selected tomorrow. There’s still time to enter by clicking here. Don’t wait. It closes later today.
QUEER TRIVIA
Before we get to all the wonderful books involved in today’s giveaway, we want to share some queer trivia. It’s the former historian and teacher that compels TB to pull together the daily trivia. So many amazing and brave people in history paved the way for the rest of us. The fight isn’t over, but while we keep showing up it’s important to remember those who came before us.
Here’s today’s trivia:
Born on October 21, 1884, she was the eleventh child of sixteen in Gelsenkirchen, Westphalia, where her parents owned a tavern. After completing Gymnasium school in Hanover, she trained as an actress. In 1903, she got her first theatre jobs in Bad Pyrmont and in Kattowitz (Katowice), Silesia. In 1906, she went to Berlin, where she performed at the Figaro-Theater on Kurfürstendamm. In 1907, she also began working as a cabaret singer.
She got her big break when Rudolf Nelson hired her at the Roland von Berlin theatre near Potsdamer Platz. At first, she intended to perform antimilitarist pieces by Paul Scheerbart while dressed in a men’s suit, but she found greater success with lighter, catchy songs written by Walter Kollo. Over the next several years, she sang in German cabarets such as Chat Noir on Friedrichstraße and the Linden-Cabaret on Unter den Linden. During World War I, when many cabarets were shut down, she continued performing at the Theater am Nollendorfplatz and in Königsberg.
Her success peaked during the Weimar Republic era of the 1920s. She became known for singing in a distinctive Berliner slang, wearing a shirt and tie with a fashionable cropped hairstyle, and boldly cursing and smoking on stage. Starting in 1924, she performed at two of Berlin’s major varieté theatres, the Scala and the Wintergarten. She shared the stage with a young Marlene Dietrich and had her songs broadcast on the radio and released on record. Her repertoire eventually grew to include around 300 original songs.
She lived with her partner, Olga “Olly” von Roeder (June 12, 1886 – July 11, 1963), until her death. The two shared a happy life in Berlin during the 1920s. In 1932, during the Great Depression, she performed at an event hosted by the Communist Rote Hilfe organization at the Berlin Sportpalast. As a result, she faced a temporary professional ban (Berufsverbot) after the Nazis and Hitler rose to power the following year. The ban was lifted once she joined the Reichskulturkammer, the official cultural association, but Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels remained wary of her, as her behavior and appearance clashed with the Nazi regime’s ideal image of women.
After the war, she lost her savings during the West German monetary reform of 1948 and, starting in 1951, depended on modest financial support from the Berlin Senate. In 1953, she wrote her autobiography. She died at the age of 72 following a stroke and was buried in the Pragfriedhof cemetery in Stuttgart. In 1963, her life partner, Olly von Roeder, was laid to rest beside her.
Do you know her name? The answer can be found below all the books.
TODAY’S ENTRY FORM:
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NOW FOR ALL THE BOOKS IN THE GIVEAWAY
Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom for today’s trivia answer!
