Avra Bergman is the main character in the 2026 adult romantic drama novel, Queering Him by Katherine Wela Bogan. It’s the first in a trilogy focusing on the relationship between Avra and Kieran.
Avra is a bi Jewish young woman whom we follow from her sophomore year in high school through her first few years of college. At first, coming out as gay in her early teen years and leaning hard into being openly out, Avra culls a bully in Kieran, an attractive, popular boy in her high school. Yet something ticks off in her bi-fi that his bullying may be sourced from his own internalized biphobia. Over the years, the two become deeply consumed by each other, eventually entering into a complicated and intimate relationship while exploring kink and BDSM together — imperfectly, to say the least.
Avra realizes early in the book that her attraction to Kieran makes her non-monosexual, and she soon begins to brandish a bi pride sticker on her backpack, claiming the label for herself. Avra is smart, darkly funny, incisive, and observant, but has some deep family trauma to unpack (mental health, parental drug use, abandonment tissues) which informs her brash, unkind attitudes and also fuels many unethical choices. It also results in her having an uneven relationship with self-worth and receiving love, feeling often that she cannot be truly loved and that people will eventually abandon her. In a way, this trauma leads to her bullying Kieran back psychologically, shaming him for years for not being as out as she is. She may not be likable, but she is not really an “evil bi” stereotype, as she is much more dimensional than that. If you would like to read more about this character, check out our Bi Book Club review of Queering Him, here.