Lavender Menace

Queer Books Archive

Once Upon A Gay in Edinburgh (Portobello Book Festival)

Portobello Library 14 Rosefield Ave, Portobello, Edinburgh

Portobello Book Festival will take place at the Portobello Library 4th-6th October. We are delighted that Bob and Sigrid will be featured at this event:A chance to find out about Edinburgh’s Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive with founders Sigrid Nielsen and Bob Orr. The archive aims to collect, conserve and celebrate queer books published before 2000 which are […]

Meet the Poets: In/Visible with JJ Fadaka

LGBT Health and Wellbeing 4 Duncan Place, Edinburgh

Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive and LGBT Health and Wellbeing come together once again to celebrate the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival 2024 alongside Black History Month for another showcase of poetry and spoken word spotlighting LGBTQ+ black and writers of colour. This year hosted by queer poet and writer JJ Fadaka, you can expect […]

Emma’s Big World Aids Day Quiz For Waverley Care

Leith Depot 138-142 Leith Walk, Edinburgh

Organised by Speak Out Studio in partnership with Lavender MenaceTime: 7pm – 9:30pm (doors at 6:30pm)Location: Leith Depot, 138-142 Leith Walk, Edinburgh, EH6 5DTJoin us for an evening of knowledge testing and fundraising for World AIDS Day 2024, with 100% of the proceeds going to Waverley Care, Scotland’s leading HIV and Hepatitis C charity.Doors open […]

Transfixions with Shola von Reinhold and Skye Arundhati Thomas

Doors: 6.30pmEvent: 7-8pmJoin Lavender Menace for an evening with writer and editor Skye Arundhati Thomas in conversation with artist and writer Shola von Reinhold. Von Reinhold’s celebrated novel, Lote, weaves narratives of queer archival disruption, academic alienation, and obscured histories through the narrative of Mathilda’s fixation with archival figures. We ask her about the historical figures that […]

Queer Gothic writing workshop with Heather Parry

Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive Edinburgh Palette Room G25c 151 London Road, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

Join Lavender Menace in our friendly queer book archive for a hands-on writing workshop with Heather Parry exploring the craft of the queer gothic story. Materials and refreshments provided.Heather Parry is a Glasgow-based writer of fiction and nonfiction. Her debut novel, Orpheus Builds a Girl, was shortlisted for the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year […]

Comics for Connection with Candice Purwin

Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive Edinburgh Palette Room G25c 151 London Road, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

Lavender Menace and illustrator Candice Purwin welcome you to Comics for Connection, an afternoon workshop in our archive where you will learn how to make your own art and zines on the topic of connection. Whatever your connection to queerness, to spaces and places, to self and others here and afar, the workshop aims to […]

‘Coming Out’: National Library of Scotland in conversation with Lavender Menace

Kelvin Hall 1445 Argyle Street, Glasgow

Join the National Library of Scotland for a screening of the 1983 documentary ‘Coming Out’ followed by an exploration of the Lavender Menace archive.Join the Lavender Menace bookshop co-founder Sigrid Nielsen and other members of the community group, for a showing of this documentary. It includes footage of the Lavender Menace bookshop which opened in […]

Desire Paths: Opening night

Gallery 2, Edinburgh Palette St Margaret's House, 151 London Road, Edinburgh

Join us for an informal party to celebrate the opening of our new co-curated exhibition! There’ll be drinks and nibbles, and the chance to hear more about the stories featured in the exhibition.Desire Paths: Reading Queer Edinburgh is an exhibition which explores our city’s histories through a queer lens. Drawing on books from our collection and Edinburgh’s […]

Desire Paths: Reading Queer Edinburgh

Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive Edinburgh Palette Room G25c 151 London Road, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

Desire Paths: Reading Queer Edinburgh is an exhibition which explores our city’s histories through a queer lens. Drawing on books from our collection and Edinburgh’s rich LGBT+ history, this exhibition maps Edinburgh through queer literature and places. The exhibition encourages visitors to reexamine the Edinburgh spaces they encounter in their everyday lives and to add […]

Lyra Celtica: Harry Josephine Giles on Wilfion

Doors 5:30pm, event 6pm-7pmJoin us for an evening of readings exploring the work and legacy of genderweird Celtic Revival writer Fiona Macleod / William Sharp with Harry Josephine Giles and special guests.Fiona Macleod was a well-known Scottish author in the Celtic Twilight, a correspondent to W. B. Yeats, and possibly the originator and probably the […]

Eve by Jo Clifford

Gallery 2, Edinburgh Palette St Margaret's House, 151 London Road, Edinburgh

At St Margaret’s House – on Floor 3 in Gallery 26pm doors open, event 6.30-8pmJoin us for a reading from Eve by Jo Clifford followed by a Q&A with the writer and performer.Eve tells the story of a child raised as a boy, when she knew all along that was wrong. That child grew up to be one […]

Archive-inspired poetry: writing workshop with Éadaoín Lynch

Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive Edinburgh Palette Room G25c 151 London Road, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

Doors at 6pm, Workshop 6.30-7.30pmJoin Typewronger’s writer-in-residence Éadaoín Lynch (they/them) for a practice-based poetry workshop in (and inspired by) the Lavender Menace archive! You’ll have the chance to interact with unique archvial materials, plus built-in time and prompts to write with. No experience necessary, just bring a notepad or a laptop, whichever you prefer. There’s no […]