Book event, Gay’s The Word, June 22, London.

Peter Parker and Richard Canning talk about G.F. Green and Ronald Firbank, and ask, ‘what makes a classic gay novel?’.

“What should a gay classic novel be, or do? Who is it for? What do we mean by the words “gay classic”? “

How do we learn the art of disguise?

Uli Lenart from Gay’s the Word bookshop writes about hiding in the open for fear of being called different. To celebrate the International Day Against Homophobia/Biphobia and Transphobia Polari Magazine is publishing a series of stories from its writers about homophobic, transphobic and biphobic incidents.

“He turned and said, I would’t fuck you if you paid me’. It was as if time stood still.”

Book launch, Gay’s The Word, May 24, London.

Author and historian Mark Cornwall reads from his book on Heinz Rutha, the pioneer of a youth movement that emphasized male bonding in its quest to reassert German dominance over Czech space in the 1930s.

“Through a narrative that unravels the threads of Rutha’s own repressed sexuality, Cornwall shows how Czech authorities misinterpreted Rutha’s mission as sexual deviance and in 1937 charged him with corrupting adolescents.”

Author D.J. West

D.J. West, who wrote the pioneering book ‘Homosexuality’ (1955), talks at Gay’s the Word, 1 March 2012.

“Now he gives a raw account of a fraught private life of love and sex, constantly under threat of public exposure, and tells how this interacted with a professional career.”

Top 10 Women

Gay’s the Word, the London Lesbian and Gay Bookshop, offers its list of the Top 10 Best Books by and about women for 2011.

“Truly a fine example of how an independent bookshop should be.” – Time Out

Top 10 Men

Gay’s the Word, the London Lesbian and Gay Bookshop, offers its list of the Top 10 Best Books by and about men for 2011

“Gay’s the Word, to my mind, is the fountainhead of queer literature in Britain. I am deeply grateful that these pioneers fought so hard for our right to tell — and read — our own stories.” Armistead Maupin

The value of Gay’s the Word bookshop to the community

Bookseller Uli Lenart writes about the importance of Gays the Word to London’s LGBT community, and the plans to build that support in 2012

Gay’s the Word, for me, is a mission…that, and a lesson in human kindness.