Queer Gothic Words

Queer Gothic Words returns to the Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive on Sunday 25 October. It's the archive's monthly queer gothic book club, which picks a book or a selection of shorter texts by LGBTQ+ authors, or featuring queer characters and themes, to read and discuss together. The picks alternate between classic and contemporary titles, so you'll find the list moving from the older gothic tradition to more recent queer writing.

The archive itself is based at the Edinburgh Palette in Abbeyhill, and it's more than just a home for the book club. On the second and fourth Sunday of every month, it's open for 'Social Sundays' from 2pm to 4pm — informal afternoons with tea, cake and plenty of queer book discussion. If you're not in the mood for a set text, that's a good way to spend a couple of hours with the collection.

There's also a sister club, Queer Joy, which meets on the third Sunday of each month and reads queer books through the lens of finding joy in LGBTQ+ stories. Between the two, you've got the gothic side and the joyful side, so you can lean into whichever mood suits you best. Both run out of the same archive, so it's easy to keep track of them both.

Queer Gothic Words is free to attend, and the Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive is at the Edinburgh Palette in Abbeyhill, Edinburgh.