A book lovers pri: For almost 40 years, Gay’s the Word has brought LGBT+ lerature to the streets of Bloomsbury | London Eveng Standard | Eveng Standard

Contents:

•  GAY'S THE WORD 
• GAY'S THE WORD
• GAY'S THE WORDLONDONMENUHOTELS · LUXURYHOTELS · MID-RANGEHOTELS · BUDGETGUTHO & B&BSHOSTELSON TODAYBARSDANCE CLUBSLBIAN BARSCISE CLUBSSNASGAY SOHOMASSAGETHEATRECABARETSSHOPSGYMSCAF & RTRANTSSERVICATTRACTNSCY GUITOURSGAY MAPUK EVENTSGAY WEDDGSGAY'S THE WORD
• LOCAL HEROES | GAY’S THE WORD
• GAY'S THE WORD
• A BOOK LOVERS PRI: FOR ALMOST 40 YEARS, GAY’S THE WORD HAS BROUGHT LGBT+ LERATURE TO THE STREETS OF BLOOMSBURY
• LONDON’S BOOKSHOPS: GAY’S THE WORD
• GAY'S THE WORD
• GAY’S THE WORD – LONDON’S INIC QUEER BOOKSTORE CONTU TO THRIVE

 GAY'S THE WORD 

Fictn, Nonfictn, Young Adult Fictn, Classics, Poetry, Plays, Rare Books, Comg Out, pl Gay's The Word and LGSM merchandise.

GAY'S THE WORD

Gay's The WordWant an alternative to Amazon? AboutA bookshop wh subject matter for the gay ways to experience nearby attractnsThe area Neighborhood: BloomsburySnuggly ntled wh Central London is amic and leafy Bloomsbury, an area that boasts walkg distance accs to many of London's most popular attractns. Everythg is laid out wonrfully sectns, spac of the Gay novels, Lbian novels, young adult queer novels, books about the history of queerns, more rmatn on the different sexualy’s like bisexual and asexual, along wh other books that n go hand hand wh that of the LGBTQ+ muny.

Gay’s The Word is a small bookshop but the range of LGBT fictn and non-fictn they stock is huge. Everythg is laid out wonrfully sectns, spac of the Gay novels, Lbian novels, young adult queer novels, books about the history of queerns, more rmatn on the different sexualy’s like bisexual and asexual, along wh other books that n go hand hand wh that of the LGBTQ+ shop worker was at the till, for safety reasons due to the till, but was happy to give advice to people or direct them to where the book they were after you are wantg to go to a book shop that is proud to have s books out on display for the general public to see, this will be your first port of ll. RadPeter Dorey, Co-Founr of Gay's The Word Bookshop, Di Aged 73'It is clear that generatns of LGBT+ people owe Peter Dorey a bt of thanks' reports Will Strou for Attu Magaze, 16 Febary 2021.

Bigoted Brish tiger that b off more than uld chewGraham McKerrow wr for talkg humani about Operatn Tiger, the Brish state’s attempt the 1980s to prohib the importatn of all queer books, newspapers and magaz, cludg a raid on Gay's The Word 1984.

GAY'S THE WORDLONDONMENUHOTELS · LUXURYHOTELS · MID-RANGEHOTELS · BUDGETGUTHO & B&BSHOSTELSON TODAYBARSDANCE CLUBSLBIAN BARSCISE CLUBSSNASGAY SOHOMASSAGETHEATRECABARETSSHOPSGYMSCAF & RTRANTSSERVICATTRACTNSCY GUITOURSGAY MAPUK EVENTSGAY WEDDGSGAY'S THE WORD

'The importance of Gay's The Word... Jonathan Cutbill Leav 'Phenomenal Collectn' of LGBTQ LeratureJonathan Cutbill, one of the founrs of Gay's The Word who passed away 2019, leav his LGBTQ Lerature llectn to Universy of London, wr Steve Brown for Attu Magaze, 24 January Bt LGBTQIA+ LeratureBrish Vogue asks 'ins of the LGBTQIA+ muny' to share what we queer wrg we should be readg, cludg Ernt Hole, founr of Gay's The Word bookshop, wrten by Liam Freeman, 21 June 's The Word Wants You To Notice ItThe Londonist profil the bookshop, askg about visibily and pri, wrten by Harry Rosehill, 11 June 2019.

Celebratg 40 years of Gay's The Word, London's glor LGBTQ bookshopDazed Digal profil the bookshop for s 40th anniversary, wrten by Louis Stapl, 27 Febary England's [First] LGBT Bookshopi-D Magaze terviews Gay's The Word's  light of s 40th anniversary, wrten by Jake Hall, 18 January 2019. ]Gay's The Word turns 40'How a small LGBT bookshop beme an unlikely battleground the fight for gay acceptance', wr Thomas Stichbury for Attu Magaze, 17 January 2019. Bookshop of the Month - Damian Barr's Lerary SalonGay's The Word is profiled for Damian Barr's Lerary Salon November 2018 wh a Q&A wh Uli Birth of Gay's The WordErnt Hole wr the history of the bookshop for the first time Polari Magaze, 17 January.

Gay’s The Word, the olst survivg LGBT+ bookshop the UK, is next up our Lol Hero seri, where we big up the people, small bs and neighbourhood spots that make London great. The bookshop was found 1979 by a group of left-wg gay socialists, cludg Ernt Hole, who’d been spired by the work of Craig Rodwell and the Osr Wil Memorial Bookshop  Manhattan (which was found two years before the Stonewall rts and was the olst LGBT+ bookshop the world before closed 2009) and wanted to open somethg siar across the Gay’s The Word Deputy Manager Uli Lenart explas, “the bookshop founrs chose the name ‘Gay’s The Word’ as a liberate bold proclamatn: as a visibly queer name; was an articulatn of our prence a climate of erasure.

LOCAL HEROES | GAY’S THE WORD

Up until that pot, some mastream bookshops had been ristant about stockg gay-themed books or materials…. ”Gay’s The Word was signed to be a muny space and meetg place as well as a place to fd books.

As well as functng as a space for people to meet and nnect, over the years the shop has played host to a range of discsn and support groups, cludg Lbian and Gays Support the Mers, the Black Gay Group and the Disable Gay Group. ”Openg a queer bookshop the late 70s was not whout s challeng, wh prejudice entrenched society and the media at the time, and Gay’s The Word was targeted wh homophobic graffi and even bricks through wdows. Thankfully thgs have started to change as he explas, “now parents e wh their non-bary, lbian and gay children.

GAY'S THE WORD

”The history of Gay’s The Word and the refuge has provid for untls people only unrsr the importance of havg dited LGBT+ bookshops, as well as LGBT+ spac general.

A BOOK LOVERS PRI: FOR ALMOST 40 YEARS, GAY’S THE WORD HAS BROUGHT LGBT+ LERATURE TO THE STREETS OF BLOOMSBURY

”As well as beg able to nnect wh all the ctomers that e through the shop doors, Gay’s The Word has also allowed Uli to explore his passns, “I’m passnate about my muny, wrg, lerature and ias…To spend some time wh Tomasz Jedrowski, thor of Swimmg the Dark, or to disver a but thor who’s pletely blown my md wh their brilliance – like Jon Ransom, thor of The Whale Tattoo – I’m the luckit gay town!

As the staff n cheerfully attt, tears are a mon occurrence on the shop floor at the Bloomsbury LGBT+ bookstore Gay’s the Word. I was well-versed the ia of gay pri, if not yet s practice. Though I’d schooled myself hard the night-time pursus of the thrillg gay diss back home, a daylight claratn felt like a step too far.

"That buried memory of an abily to walk to a gay book shop, curated at least part specifilly wh me md, was one of many that me tumblg back while recently workg on Good As You, the book I wrote about 30 years of gay Bra, om Bronski Beat’s gay anthem ‘Smalltown Boy’ to same-sex marriage. If I was to try and unrstand how gay men had turned om enemi to iends of the state between 1984 and 2014 — om beg shunned to beg celebrated — I need to unrstand what that tumultuo time had done to me, 20 years of livg London, Gay’s the Word has now turned to somethg like an old iend. Gay clubs and pubs have e and gone sce I moved to the metropolis but Gay’s the Word has remaed, like a favoure pair of pyjamas or the schoolteacher you once harboured a secret csh on.

LONDON’S BOOKSHOPS: GAY’S THE WORD

"That’s why Gay’s the Word’s viabily is so ccial.

"While the rporate world will splatter rabow signia over shop wdows this weekend durg the Pri event, Gay’s the Word ntu the good fight for clivy, equaly and visibily all year round, wavg s pk triangl toward the Wt End.

Hole returned om livg New York termed to give London an equivalent to The Osr Wil Memorial, Craig Rodwell’s Wt Village gay bookstore — the world’s first. It was ially a femist and gay shop and muny rource, half bookstore, half fé. Over four Teflon-plated s, Gay’s the Word has weathered the Brish gay revolutn om the si, watchg the ebb and flow of the LGBT+ ti om the readg habs of s patrons.

GAY'S THE WORD

‘1989, aged 17, the night me and my bt mate managed to fd the one and only gay club Fuengirola, Costa Del Sol.

GAY’S THE WORD – LONDON’S INIC QUEER BOOKSTORE CONTU TO THRIVE

’The shop’s all-time bt-sellg book is Spartac, the pre-ter worldwi gay gui. As a mark of how much gay lerature has filtrated the mastream sce, today’s top-seller is Andrew Sean Greer’s sprightly rom Ls, the current Pulzer Prize wner for fictn.

Beg stocked Gay’s the Word is not jt a badge of LGBT+ honour, ’s one of qualy too. "‘1990, aged 18, at Stuffed Oliv nightclub, Manchter, the same year I first saw the ontage of Gay’s the Word and flunked the entrance. When all s supposedly ‘cent’ materials were seized by Her Majty’s ctoms the 1980s a se that would have crippled other stor, Gore Vidal was among the people who offered practil help as well as support, giftg the shop £1, 000 towards legal all s righteo trajectory, perhaps the most surprisg tail the life of Gay’s the Word was when briefly appeared on film after featurg as the headquarters of the Support the Mers Group the betiful 2014 drama, Pri.