Happy Pride Month! This month, we’re recommending our favourite queer reads and which queer bookshop you should get them from based on your area!
Lisa’s pick:
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (**spoiler alerts!**) – OK, OK so Taylor Jenkins Reid probably has a gazillion fans already but I thought the portrayal of repression and secrecy around queer love and bisexuality in the 1950s was brilliantly done both through the eponymous character of Evelyn and her fifth husband and best friend Harry. Evelyn’s love and longing for Celia and wanting to be her true self is beautifully portrayed. Although the possibility of being exposed and having their lives laid bear by the tabloids actually doesn’t seem a million miles away from some of today’s media…
Demi’s pick:
Neil Blackmore, the man that you are! Radical Love came out in 2023 and – apologies for being late to the hype – it’s amazing. Set in 19th-century London, John Church wants to be someone – and that someone is a preacher who implores his followers to embrace tolerance and acceptance. He is preaching in a time when Black people are fighting an uphill battle for slavery abolition and equality, and queer people are being murdered in the streets and ridiculed in the paper. Of course, this makes it the perfect time for John to fall in love with Ned, an African abolitionist who attends John’s church. Heartbreaking, dizzying, sensuous and shocking, Radical Love is a deep dive into the things we’re willing to do to satiate our desires, and uses a piece of true queer history to tell the tale.
Jenna’s pick:
I recently devoured Douglas Stuart’s Young Mungo. Set in gritty 1980s Glasgow, part coming of age, part family drama, following the ill-fated first love that blossoms between Mungo and his friend James on their housing estate, and its violent consequences that render Mungo vulnerable and alone in rural Scotland. Stuart explores the intersections between sexuality, masculinity, class and sectarian tension. Bleak but beautiful, with notes of a Shakespearean tragedy, an honest portrait of what life has been and might still be like for some queer people. Highly recommend.
Ellie’s pick:
A literary thriller set in a rural Dutch village in the 1960s, The Safekeep is chilling and emotional and sensual and surprising – in all the best ways. Yael van der Wouden suffuses the narrative with an obsessive attention to detail that blurs into creeping paranoia, and claustrophobic tension that makes your skin crawl. While her two protagonists, Isa and Eva, are far from likable, their relationship is utterly compelling. Call Me By Your Name meets Rebecca with a dash of Julia Armfield and Patricia Highsmith. One of the best books I’ve read this year.
Bookshop recs!
Queer bookshops up North…
If you are visiting or live in the North of England, some brilliant bookshops to visit are Queer Lit in Manchester, The Bookish Type in Leeds and News from Nowhere in Liverpool – we also must give a shout out to the wonderfully inclusive indie Dead Ink bookshop in Liverpool too!
Queer Lit – Manchester’s Award Winning Independent Gay Bookshop.
Recently shortlisted for the Independent Bookshop of the Year Award at the British Book Awards, Queer Lit opened in 2023 and is Europe’s largest queer bookshop, stocking over 4500 titles in their shop on Manchester’s Great Ancoats Street. They host a fantastic series of events, including a forthcoming book club event on 7 July with our very own Chloe Michelle Howarth talking about Sunburn. You can book tickets here: Summer Sunburn Tickets, Mon, Jul 7, 2025 at 7:00 PM | Eventbrite
The Bookish Type – Independent Queer Bookshop in Leeds
Ray and Nic opened The Bookish Type in 2020 and sell a range of queer literature. They are a community bookshop and support the local queer community through many initiatives including a ‘Pay It Forward’ scheme which is a way of making queer books available to those who can’t afford them and they also run Queer History Tours around Leeds for people to learn about the rich LGBTIQA+ history of the city.
News From Nowhere
News From Nowhere has been running for over 40 years and is a not-for-profit radical & community bookshop run collectively by a women workers’ co-operative. Maria N’g of News From Nowhere said: “Our intent is to provide literature on progressive social change, to change the world for the better. We’ve always got that angle; the environment, feminism, LGBT rights, anti-racism, anti-capitalism, socialism, all different things… we can get any books people want’.
Although not exclusively a queer bookshop, the Dead Ink Bookshop is an inclusive bookshop that showcases many queer titles and is an offshoot of fellow indie publisher Dead Ink Books – who were also shortlisted for Small Press of the Year at the British Book Awards. A neighbourhood bookshop, Dead Ink opened in 2022 with the aim to showcase creativity outside of the mainstream and the corporate. All the books they stock are from independent publishers, their stationery is from small producers and even their coffee is sourced from a local roaster!
Based in York, Portal Bookshop is a charming shop sorting out all your queer read needs! This shop focuses on fiction from sci-fi to fantasy, making it perfect for my fellow gays that are keen to see queers in space or in Middle-earth. With numerous queer events taking place and an exceptional queer book club, this is definitely one for the gurls and the gays to check out.
Queer bookshops in Scotland…
Located in Glasgow’s trendy southside, trans-owned independent bookshop open Thurs-Sun – offer wide range of expertly curated queer lit, from new books and cult classics to comics and zines. Plus brilliant space with regular book clubs, readings, writers’ groups and other community-minded events. Find them on Allison Street.
Situated close to the University of Edinburgh’s main campus, this was my local bookshop when I was a student – what an honour. It’s radical, queer-focused, women-led, and, like Category is Books, a fantastic community space with brilliant events for those who love their books with a side of activism. The shop is a lovely space with a vast number of diverse offerings. I challenge you to leave the shop without making a purchase… They can be found on West Nicolson Street.
Queer Bookshops on the South Coast…
Located in the centre of Brighton’s Kemptown community, The Queery is a radical queer bookshop offering fiction, non-fiction, children’s books, poetry and academic books by, for and about LGBTQIA+ folk. They are a collective run by a network of volunteers and the shop doubles as an events venue and safe sober space for the local community, hosting everything from a monthly Queer Film Club and Drag Social to eco-focused clothing swaps and craft markets spotlighting indie creatives. There’s also a brilliant pay-as-you-feel vegan cafe so you can browse the bookshelves with coffee in-hand.
Based in Plymouth, The Old Queeriosity Shop is a queer-run bookshop specialising in LGBTQIA+ literature across fiction, non-fiction, poetry and children’s. They run the monthly @queerreadsplymouth book club and also act as a community hub, offering a safe and inclusive space for all to gather and organise. Keep an eye out for the team at one of their pop-up stations at Pride events across the Devon and Cornwall area this summer.
Queer bookshops in London…
If you live in London or have visited, it’s impossible to discuss queer London bookshops without mentioning Gay’s the Word, the UK’s oldest LGBTQIA+ bookshop found on Marchmont Street. Small but mighty, this shop has an extensive collection of solely queer books with a dedicated team that can recommend anything you need. However, Gay’s the Word is more than a bookshop, acting as a safe place for queer people to commune and discuss, fostering a sense of community for queer veterans or baby gays just joining the club.
Out in East London lies another pillar in the queer community – The Common Press, which is known for their numerous and epic events that cater to a whole array of queer people. Independent, intersectional, radical and also wheelchair accessible, this bookshop champions the voices within the community and ensures their events – which are often affordable or free – benefit those attending in some way.
Now this one isn’t explicitly queer, but Housmans, a short walk away from King’s Cross, is a radical bookshop that was established in 1945. Visit and pull from their vast wealth of knowledge on topics like queer liberation, Black politics, feminism, pacifism and their numerous radical pamphlets and magazines from all over Britain. They also have an excellent collection of just £1 (!) books in their basement. This bookshop is a staple for any and all queer activists and anarchists.