Over the past year, the Past Shelves oral history project has interviewed volunteers about their memories of Lavender Menace and West & Wilde.

The interviews shed light on the role that LGBTQ+ books and bookshops played in the 1980s and 1990s. These conversations have opened the door to discuss representation, activism, and what is possible for LGBTQ+ life. We’d like to thank the interviewees for sharing their stories so generously.

You can listen to extracts from various interviews below.

Community impact

Hear about the impact that Lavender Menace and West & Wilde bookshops had on the LGBTQ+ community:

Seeing yourself represented

In this clip, interviewees discuss seeing themselves in books. Finding stories that reflect your own lived experiences can be incredibly validating and empowering:

New possibilities

As well as providing readers with representation of their own lives, interviewees shared that books helped them to discover new possibilities for what LGBTQ+ life could be:

Staying discrete

During this time, being open about LGBTQ+ identity could put people at risk of losing jobs, family, and security. Interviewees shared their experiences of entering Lavender Menace:

A great quantum leap

West & Wilde ran for ten years (1987-1997). In this time, societal attitudes towards LGBTQ+ people shifted, which was reflected in interviewees perceptions of the bookshop itself:

Activism

Lavender Menace and West & Wilde operated at a time of passionate campaigning and protest. Interviewees shared their memories of activism during this time, and how it links to today: