“Though I dove into creating this book club with no experience or plan, I was single-minded about my goal: to create a community that shared a passion for queer literature that platforms the experiences of queer women, trans women, and non-binary people”
BY AYSE HUSEYIN, IMAGES PROVIDED
On 29 June 2023, clutching a copy of Stone Butch Blues to disguise my trembling hands, I said “welcome to the Queer Girls’ Book Club” for the first time. That moment was the culmination of months of scheming, designing, pitching and marketing – all of which I had taught myself as I went. The idea of the group had begun as a casual comment on Brighton beach a year before. With my eyes fixed on the lilting grey water, I asked myself: “How hard could it be?”
Though I dove into creating this book club with no experience or plan, I was single-minded about my goal: to create a community that shared a passion for queer literature that platforms the experiences of queer women, trans women, and non-binary people who, even within our community, are side-lined for cisgender-male narratives.
Twenty-eight people attended our first meeting and I understood then that I wasn’t alone in craving a space like this. The pipeline from strange bookish child to queer adult is a well-trodden path, pressed flat by generations of Birkenstocks and Dr. Martens. I believed wholeheartedly that there were others like me and, astoundingly, when I called, my community answered. After an electrifying discussion I stumbled back into the world euphoric and certain that whatever it was we had created, I would be devoted to it forever.
For the last two years, once a month, the most intelligent, emotionally generous, insightful and witty queer people you could ever hope to meet gather in Housmans radical bookshop. For an hour (and sometimes longer if the conversation is really flowing), we respectfully exchange ideas, laugh, agree and disagree, praise, dissect and delve into each month’s book. Every story is handled with exacting and tender focus. Attendees are always encouraged to speak from the heart.
Dislike of the book is as welcome as praise, whether it’s proclaiming that Orlando by Virginia Woolf is “200 pages of self- indulgent wank” (a direct quote from yours truly) or admitting of Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth that “I too have been horny enough to envy the chewed-up food in a woman’s mouth” (also a quote by me which I hope is the one they select if they ever display a blue plaque outside my house). This is a group for aficionados, first-timers, academics, dabblers. All are welcome.
Our reading list is diverse, enjoying fiction, non-fiction, anthologies, graphic novels, queer classics and contemporary debuts. We have had the distinct pleasure of queer authors joining our meetings such as Joelle Taylor.
Every October, to celebrate Black History Month we only read books by/about Black people and in November, to celebrate Trans Awareness Month, we only read books by/about trans people because community groups have a responsibility to uplift and spotlight the marginalised. We’ve donated books to The Outside Project to ensure that queer people experiencing homelessness have access to queer literature.
Despite being the group’s founder, I firmly reject the suggestion that it is ‘mine’. This group is ours. It is yours, dear reader. Without the dedication of every single attendee and social media follower, there is no Queer Girls’ Book Club. We are a collective force for good.
As Jess, the main character of Stone Butch Blues, reminds us in their galvanising call to action: queer joy is not promised, it is seized. Queer community is not given, it is forged. Over the last two humbling, raucous, exhilarating and joyful years, through the Queer Girls’ Book Club, that is what we have done. It is what we will continue to do; we hope that you will join us.
For more information about The Queer Girls’ Book Club including tickets for their latest meeting, follow them on Instagram, Eventbrite, or check out their website.
Pssst… did you know DIVA’s editor-in-chief, Roxy Bourdillion, will be joining the Queer Girls’ Book Club on 11 November to discuss her memoir What A Girl Wants: A (True) Story Of Sexuality And Self-discovery. Tickets are free but you can get a 20% discount on What A Girl Wants at Housmans using the code ILOVEBOOKCLUB. Get your free tickets today!
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