If you can’t find me, I’m probably still browsing shelves of queer joy at Lighthouse, Edinburgh’s superb radical bookshop. The delightful owner Mairi Oliver took some time to chat with me about the long history of radical and queer bookshops that have come before and exist alongside this absolute gem of a queer space. We speak about queer spaces changing hands and transforming, rather than disappearing, about the magic of queer and trans book events, and about why radical booksellers are so important for local community.  

References:
Word Power
Elaine Henry
Constant Reader Bookshop
Lavender Menace
West & Wilde
Sigrid Nielson
Bob Orr J
une Thomas’s A Place of One’s Own
Jane Cholmeley’s A Bookshop of One’s Own
Silver Moon Bookshop
James Ley’s Love Song To Lavender Menace
Naomi Klein
Sara Ahmed
Radical Book Fair
Category is Books (Glasgow)
Gay’s The Word (London)
Housmans (London)
Five Leaves (Nottingham)
Alliance of Radical Booksellers 
https://www.radicalbooksellers.co.uk/
Bread and Roses Award
Jake Hall’s Shoulder to Shoulder: A Queer History of Solidarity, Coalition and Chaos
N.S. Nuseibeh’s Namesake  

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1.      Mairi speaks about how Lighthouse builds on a lineage of queer spaces. How do you feel about queer spaces transforming versus disappearing?
2.      In this context, we also speak about the higher expectations for queer spaces. Have you experienced this? Do you think queer spaces should be held to a higher standard? What is the effect of this?
3.      When we speak about the relationship between readers, booksellers and authors, Mairi makes some interesting points about how the role of writers is changing. What struck you as particularly important here?
4.      Mairi ends the episode with a note on the urgency with which we need to address current political discussions. How can books and bookshops help us do this?