Why queering your bookshelf matters more than ever
Katie Baskerville sits with authors Layla McCay and Dr Anthony Delany to discuss the importance of making your bookshelf as gay as possible in an era of concerted censorship efforts.
Design by Chyna Sudbury
This year, 2026, has been ordained as the national year of reading. The campaign promises to get people in the UK to fall back in love with books, making reading an everyday habit.
As a bookworm, this is welcome news. Snaps all around. But I can't help but feel slightly disenchanted by the reality of things.
Queer media is going through the wringer – from the newly appointed reform council in Essex denying libraries the freedom to promote LGBTQIA+ books during Pride and dozens of school libraries being asked to remove queer literature from their shelves altogether, to the systematic cancellation of queer media across mainstream outputs. It's hard to see how the government is going to make good on its promise when a significant proportion of writers are finding it harder and harder to be published, promoted and read by broad audiences.
