In the heart of Shoreditch, surrounded by vintage stores and coffee shops, rests a hub of creativity for the LGBTQ community. At the bookstore, The Common Press, people peruse books, sip coffee at the bar, record their voices in the podcast studio and, most importantly, feel safe.
For LGBTQ history month, local queer bookstores such as The Common Press and Gay’s the Word are championing marginalized voices and helping to create safe spaces for all people. From now until the end of February, this time is the perfect opportunity to support queer authors and add a new book to your “to read” pile.
The Common Press is independent queer bookshop within a larger LGBTQIA interdisciplinary hub. With a curated collection of titles by marginalized authors, a rentable podcast studio, community space and a bar, The Common Press offers everything you need to spend an afternoon surrounded by like-minded people.
In response to the current political climate, the Common Press was formed when a group of queer creators imagined a place that could offer something more than London had in terms of queer spaces. London lost a number of queer spaces availiable to people during the COVID-19 pandemic. In light of this decline, Manager of The Common Press Alfonzo Sieveking explained how The Common Press embraces a mission of amplifying marginalized voices.
“A lot of our community spaces are just gone now, so the idea behind this space was to make something that quite literally amplifies marginalized peoples’ voices and is also just somewhere that can incorporate any kind of creative practice,” Sieveking said. “We have a podcast studio, book launches and panels, so we are literally helping to make people’s voices heard.”
For LGBTQIA history month, The Common Press and Gay’s The Word have both curated recommended reading lists on Bookshop.org, covering all genres from graphic novels to biographies. From the list, Sieveking personally recommends “And the Category Is…: Inside New York’s Vogue, House, and Ballroom Community” by Ricky Tucker, and “Outrageous!: The Story of Section 28 and Britain’s Battle for LGBT Education” by Paul Baker.
In addition to recommended reading lists, the bar next door The Common Press, The Common Counter, is adding special cocktails to its menu inspired by different queer books. The first cocktail of the series, Bacchanal, contains sweet liqueur blended with spicy notes that pairs perfectly with “The Song of Achilles” by Madeline Miller.
The cocktail series and recommended readings are meant to both inform and celebrate LGBTQ History Month. According to Sieveking, the importance of LGBTQ history is about more than learning new stories; it’s about understanding the complex ways our past informs our present.
“For some, even as history moves forward, it’s moving backwards for others. I think that’s best combated by telling the story of Britain as it was, as it is, as it truly is. Not the sanitized version that has the queer bits taken out,” Sieveking said.
For more information on The Common Press or Gay’s The Word, follow the links to their websites.
