Past Shelves: Queer Histories of Reading (Exhibition)
Thu 5 March @ 10:00 am – Sun 3 May @ 5:00 pm
Join us for the Past Shelves exhibition to explore the impact of LGBTQ+ reading, publishing, and bookselling. The exhibition is inspired by Scotland’s first LGBTQ+ bookshops, community experiences of reading and life in Scotland from 1980-2000.
The Past Shelves exhibition follows on from the Past Shelves oral history project run in 2025-2026 by the Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive. The project interviewed dozens of members of the LGBTQ+ community whose lives were shaped by books and reading. You can hear some of these interviews in the exhibition.
Lavender Menace was Scotland’s first gay and lesbian community bookshop. Co-founded by Bob Orr and Sigrid Nielsen, it opened in 1982. After five years of bookselling, the bookshop was reborn as West & Wilde (1987-1997) owned by Bob Orr and Raymond Rose. These spaces were a haven for LGBTQ+ people and sold queer books at a time when mainstream bookshops would not stock them. The bookshops were also important community spaces where LGBTQ+ people could feel welcomed and connect with each other. In 2019, Lavender Menace was revived as Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive.
Discover the world of Lavender Menace and West & Wilde with us, through books, magazines, interviews and more.
Credits
This exhibition was created by Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive in partnership with Museums & Galleries Edinburgh. Thank you to our funders, the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Awards for All.
