Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive and Blog

Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive and Blog Lavender Menace opened as a bookshop in Edinburgh in 1982 and we now collect, conserve and celebrate the books we sold then.

There are two vacancies open on our board, and we're looking for members of our community to fill them! The new Finance ...
16/06/2026

There are two vacancies open on our board, and we're looking for members of our community to fill them! The new Finance Director and Board Secretary will play a vital role in developing a strategy that will enable Lavender Menace to realise its vision, now and into the future.

If you have some free time to volunteer and you'd like to be a key member of the Lavender Menace family, please apply!

Find out more here: https://lavendermenace.org.uk/office-holders-wanted

She was a star of the theatre scene in Weimar Germany, where she had an open marriage and a rumoured affair with actress...
15/06/2026

She was a star of the theatre scene in Weimar Germany, where she had an open marriage and a rumoured affair with actress Eleanora von Mendelssohn. In Hollywood, she met Greta Garbo. They became close friends and Salka wrote some of Garbo’s classic films, including the epically q***r Queen Christina. Meanwhile Salka rescued most of her Jewish family, and many others, from the N***s, and held a Sunday salon for refugees, migrants, and q***r artists, including the Hollywood le***an ‘Sewing Circle’. Many of her friends were radical antifascists, and in the 1950s she came to the attention of the FBI, who put her on a ‘watch list’, opened her post, and denied her a passport. Eventually she fled the US and lost touch with most of her friends, except for Garbo, who remained loyal and visited Salka for the rest of her life. Donna Rifkind’s biography, The Sun and Her Stars, and Salka’s own memoir, The Kindness of Strangers, tell her story. ***rbooks ***rhollywood

We were sad to hear of the death of David Hockney on 11 June. He was known all over the world for his portraits, photogr...
14/06/2026

We were sad to hear of the death of David Hockney on 11 June. He was known all over the world for his portraits, photographs, stage designs, landscapes, and prints - some of the most famous are visibly q***r. He came out at age 23 in 1960, at a time of vicious social and legal stigma - and when liberation movements emerged ten years later, he supported them. The painting in this post, Model With Unfinished Self-portrait (1977) is also on the cover of the archive’s only book featuring Hockney’s paintings, David Hockney (World of Art) by Marco Livingston (published by Thames and Hudson in 1988). His art with its vibrant colours, witty portraits snd bold compositions formed s backdrop to the changing world q***r people have experienced over his lifetime, and we will miss him. ***rbooks ***rart

You had to look for them in basements and backstreets. They were raided, invaded, and sometimes firebombed. But q***r bo...
12/06/2026

You had to look for them in basements and backstreets. They were raided, invaded, and sometimes firebombed. But q***r bookshops kept providing a community and a visible space for LGBTQ+ people. They opened minds and made readers able to picture a different world. AJ West had told their story in this new book, based on extensive interviewing (with Bob and Sigrid among many others) and at Lighthouse Bookshop on 10 June, How Q***r Bookshops Changed the World was launched for a capacity audience. AJ West appeared in conversation with June Thomas, author of A Place of Our Own, along with Raymond, Bob and Sigrid. We’d like to thank Lighthouse for inviting us and everyone involved for a q***r prideful storytelling evening. The book reveals that the very first q***r bookshop, Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookstore in New York, was also a reading room, and our archive is working to carry that tradition on. ***rbooks 🌈❤️💛💚💙💜🏳️‍🌈✊

We're discussing a classic at Q***r Gothic Words this month. Austen's novel satirises the Gothic genre, while it also re...
12/06/2026

We're discussing a classic at Q***r Gothic Words this month. Austen's novel satirises the Gothic genre, while it also referenced and revived interest in several older Gothic novels. Come chat to us about it on the last Sunday of the month.

Find out more and book a space: https://lavendermenace.org.uk/event/q***r-gothic-words

Our official crowdfunding campaign has come to an end, and we've been overwhelmed with how much support and generosity y...
10/06/2026

Our official crowdfunding campaign has come to an end, and we've been overwhelmed with how much support and generosity you've all shown us 🥹

So we want to say a huge THANK YOU and show you what you've helped us achieve...

- With your help, we smashed through our initial fundraising target of £5k in just 12 hours!
- 2 weeks later we hit our first stretch target of £22,500
- Then with just 2 days left, we reached our second stretch target of £33,750!

This means that, thanks to you, we can guarantee that Lavender Menace will stay open for at least 9 months with a full roster of staff and our regular events! 🥳🎉

We couldn't have done this without the incredible support of our community!
💸 Everyone who donated money to the crowdfunder
🎁 Authors/creators who donated prizes
💻 Volunteers who shared skills
🪩 Cool people who organised fundraising events
📣 Everyone who spread the word about us
This is down to you. THANK YOU ALL OF YOU!

Our official crowdfunding campaign is now over, but the Crowdfunder page will remain open until early July (rewards are no longer available, but if you missed the campaign, you're still welcome to donate)

We're now compiling a huge mountain of generously donated rewards. Over the next month, we'll start getting them to the awesome humans who gave money and claimed them!

Your amazing support has put us in a fantastic position! If you're wondering how you can help us stay there, you can always set up a regular donation here: https://lavendermenace.org.uk/become-a-menace

Once again, from the bottom of our q***r little hearts, THANK YOU!

The Menaces x 🩷❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜

Thank you to everyone who came by our stall at Porty Pride in Portobello High Street on Saturday. All of us, including V...
09/06/2026

Thank you to everyone who came by our stall at Porty Pride in Portobello High Street on Saturday. All of us, including Vita, the archive dog, had a great time meeting you and showing off our new merch (created for the recent crowdfunder). 🌈📚 ***rbooks ***rarchives

We hope you can join us for our informal discussion group, Q***r Men for Q***r Literature, on the second Sunday of the m...
07/06/2026

We hope you can join us for our informal discussion group, Q***r Men for Q***r Literature, on the second Sunday of the month. In June, we'll be discussing q***r nature. Feel free to bring nature-related extracts or poems by/about q***r men. Or just turn up for a cuppa and some book chat!

Find out more and book a space:
https://lavendermenace.org.uk/event/qm4ql

Happy Birthday to us!It's 4 years since the Lavender Menace Q***r Books Archive opened its doors! Since then we've gaine...
04/06/2026

Happy Birthday to us!

It's 4 years since the Lavender Menace Q***r Books Archive opened its doors! Since then we've gained dozens of volunteers, catalogued over 3,500 books, organised numerous events and curated 2 exhibitions.

We couldn't have done all this without the support of our incredible community. And we can't continue this vital work without your continued support.

Today also marks the end of our Crowdfunder. If you still want to donate and claim a reward, you have until 10pm tonight!

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/save-lavender-menace

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Tuesday 11am - 4pm
Thursday 11am - 4pm
Sunday 2pm - 4pm

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