How Queer Bookshops Changed the World

Independent bookshops are the unsung heroes of queer liberation, providing friendship, solidarity and sanctuary through the ages. 'A terrific read!' Jane Cholmeley, author of A Bookshop of One's Own Travelling from Shakespeare and Company in Paris to Gay's the Word in London to the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop in New York, A.J. West has written the first history of these remarkable spaces. Tracing their evolution from under-the-counter operations to beloved out-and-proud institutions, West reveals how they stood at the vanguard of LGBTQ+ rights, offering support through the AIDS crisis and bringing the fight to Section 28. How Queer Bookshops Changed the World celebrates cherished shops past and present, the ground-breaking books they championed when others wouldn't, and the booksellers who demonstrated courage and community through it all. 'I have savoured every chapter, practically every sentence.' James Cahill, author of Tiepolo Blue 'Perfectly captured and inspirational.' Robin Ince, co-host of BBC Radio 4's The Infinite Monkey Cage 'A crucial history of love, struggle, solidarity and liberation.' Jake Arnott, author of The Long Firm

A. J. West is an award-winning journalist and was the first openly gay BBC television newsreader in Northern Ireland. He is a former director of a national UK queer charity. His last novel The Betrayal of Thomas True was a No.2 Sunday Times bestseller. He has written extensively about queer issues for Gay Times, Attitude, the Independent, Daily Mail, Sun, Telegraph. He regularly appears on network television and radio as a panellist on current affairs programmes, often discussing queer topics.