05/23/2026
We are so excited for this new arrival!
(Official on June 9th)
The remarkable tale of how q***r bookshops built communities, nourished minds, redefined literature – and changed the world
For over a century, LGBTQ+ bookshops have been the unsung heroes of q***r liberation
Home not only to books but chaotic community noticeboards, vicious rescue cats and countless meet cutes, q***r bookshops have always been more than just bookshops, offering friendship, solidarity and sanctuary.
Travelling the world – Shakespeare and Company in Paris, Gay’s the Word in London, the Oscar Wilde Bookshop in New York – A. J. West explores the remarkable history of these bookstores. Tracing their evolution from under-the-counter operations to beloved out-and-proud institutions, West reveals how the q***r bookshop stood at the vanguard of LGBTQ+ rights, offering support and vital information through the AIDS crisis and bringing the fight to Section 28 and book bans.
A powerful testament not only to bookshops but to the courage of q***r booksellers, from Sylvia Beach hiding books from the N***s in laundry baskets to Craig Rodwell facing off against the police at the Stonewall riots, A. J. West celebrates the shops and booksellers that brought q***r literature and lives into the mainstream.
Bookshops covered include: The Highlander & Dove, The Librarie Parisienne, Shakespeare and Company, City Lights Bookstore, The London Underground, Adonis Bookstore, The Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop, Glad Day, Lambda Rising, Giovanni’s Room, A Different Light, Amazon Bookstore Cooperative, A Woman’s Place Bookstore, Womanbooks, Sisterwrite, Modern Books, Housmans Bookshop, Prinz Eisenherz, Gay’s The Word, Lavender Menace & West and Wilde, Vrolijk, Silver Moon, London, The Bookshop Darlinghurst, Paperxclips, Gay-on-Wye, Gayberystwyth Books.
