Tuesday, 14 Apr
19:00
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Times
7:00pm, 12:00pm Sun
Running Time 1 hour 30 mins
Venue De Grey House
Upper Foyer, York Theatre Royal
Age 18+
Introducing York Theatre Royal's LGBTQ+ Book Group!
Are you passionate about literature that celebrates and explores the LGBTQ+ community? Are you looking for a safe and welcoming space to discuss thought-provoking books while connecting with like-minded individuals? Look no further! We are thrilled to announce the launch of our LGBTQ+ Book Group at York Theatre Royal.
The LGBTQ+ Book Group will meet monthly at the York Theatre Royal 7pm -8.30pm on the second Tuesday of each month. The theatre will provide an inviting atmosphere for open discussions and a cosy setting to delve into the captivating world of LGBTQ+ literature. We’ll meet by the downstairs bar to grab a drink, before heading next door for the discussion.
Our book selections will be diverse, reflecting the wide spectrum of LGBTQ+ experiences. We believe in exploring contemporary fiction, queer classics, memoirs, and young adult novels. All of our selections will be written by Queer authors. By blending different genres, we aim to create a well-rounded reading experience that will engage, inspire, and challenge our members. See the upcoming books at the bottom of this page.
Absolutely not! We welcome all over 18s who shares an interest in LGBTQ+ literature, regardless of their background or previous knowledge. Whether you are an avid reader or new to LGBTQ+ books, our group is an inclusive space where everyone’s perspectives are valued and celebrated.
Beyond reading and discussing exceptional books, our book group offers a unique opportunity to engage with the rich tapestry of the queer literary canon. You’ll have the chance to explore ground-breaking works, discover new authors, and expand your understanding of LGBTQ+ literature. Additionally, this group fosters a sense of community by providing a platform to form meaningful connections, create new friendships, and build relationships within York’s LGBTQ+ community.
Joining the LGBTQ+ Book Group is easy, just book for each session you plan to attend! We encourage early booking to secure your spot, as spaces may be limited. Once you’ve booked, you’ll receive updates on upcoming book selections, meeting dates, and any additional events or guest speakers we may have. It’s also completely free! You just need to read the book (you can purchase this from our local LGBTQ+ bookshop Portal, or borrow a copy from York Library)
Don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity to explore captivating LGBTQ+ literature and connect with like-minded individuals. Join us at York Theatre Royal’s LGBTQ+ Book Group and embark on a literary journey that celebrates the beauty and diversity of the LGBTQ+ community. We can’t wait to meet you!
Our Wives Under The Sea is the haunting novel from Julia Armfield, the critically acclaimed author of Salt Slow. It’s a story of falling in love, loss, grief, and what life there is in the deep, deep sea.
Miri thinks she has got her wife back, when Leah finally returns after a deep sea mission that ended in catastrophe. But it soon becomes clear that Leah may have come back wrong. Whatever happened in that vessel, whatever it was they were supposed to be studying before they were stranded on the ocean floor, Leah has carried part of it with her, onto dry land and into their home.
A cosy, enchanting story about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place. The House in the Cerulean Sea is an uplifting, heart-warming queer fantasy from TJ Klune, a Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author.
Linus Baker leads a quiet life. At forty, he has a tiny house with a devious cat and his beloved records for company. And at the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, he’s spent many dull years monitoring their orphanages. Then, one day, everything changes.
An epic novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s space shuttle program about the extraordinary lengths we go to live and love beyond our limits.
In the summer of 1980, astrophysics professor Joan Goodwin begins training to be an astronaut at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond; mission specialists John Griffin and Lydia Danes; warm-hearted Donna Fitzgerald; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer. As the new astronauts prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined and begins to question everything she believes about her place in the observable universe.
Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant.
Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, creating complex protagonists, and telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love – this time among the stars.
Propulsive music and euphoric crowds; drag queens and go-go dancers; strobe lights, dark rooms and glory holes. Gay bars have long been sites of joy and solidarity, sexual expression and activism. But around the world, they are closing.
Atherton Lin draws from his experiences of clubs, pubs and dives in London, San Francisco and Los Angeles – and a transatlantic romance that began late one restless night – to trace queer histories.
An expansive and vivacious celebration of an institution, Gay Bar is also a stylish, intimate exploration of what these spaces mean, how they are changing and what we stand to lose when they close their doors.
It’s 2067 at Palm Meridian Retirement Resort, Florida, and the last day of Hannah’s life. Tomorrow, as the sun burns the dew off the lawns, she’ll close her eyes for the very last time.
But she won’t be going quietly. Tonight, Hannah’s throwing an end-of-life party: the drinks are on ice, and the palm trees are strung with lights beneath technicolour skies. And though Hannah has less than twenty-four hours left, she’s holding out for one last, impossible thing…
Amongst the guest list is Hannah’s long-lost love Sophie – the woman who Hannah can’t forget, even after forty years. Hannah has to give her greatest love one last try.
Soon, the party is in full swing. Hannah waits nervously, unaware that before her last ever dawn breaks, a devastating secret will come to light. If Sophie shows, how can Hannah say goodbye all over again? And is there enough time to fix the past?
Brimming with heart, and just as hilarious as it is heartbreaking, Palm Meridian is a one-of-a kind novel that will stay with you forever. Grace & Frankie meets The Notebook, for fans of Malibu Rising, this bittersweet novel affirms that life is what we choose to make of it, and any story can be a love story, if you let it.
When Carlotta Mercedes was pulled into a robbery gone wrong, she still went by the name she was born with. But not long after her conviction, she began to live as a woman, an embrace of selfhood that prison authorities rejected, keeping Carlotta trapped in an all-male cell block, abused by both inmates and guards.
Over twenty years later, Carlotta is granted conditional freedom and returns to a much-changed Brooklyn, where she struggles to reconcile with a family reluctant to accept her identity, and to avoid any minor parole infraction that might get her consigned back to lockup.
Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta sweeps the reader through seemingly every street of Brooklyn, much as Joyce’s Ulysses does through Dublin. Hannaham introduces a cast of unforgettable characters even as it challenges us to confront the glaring injustices of a society and prison system that continues to punish people long after their time has been served.
Valentin and Molina seemingly share little other than a cell in this queer classic ahead of its time.
Sometimes they talk all night long. In the still darkness of their Buenos Aires prison cell, Molina re-weaves the glittering and fragile stories of the film he loves, and the cynical Valentin listens. Valentin believes in the just cause that makes all suffering bearable; Molina believes in the magic of love that makes all else endurable.
Though they seemingly share little other than a cell, the two form a bond so intimate – and a relationship so profoundly affecting – that only the other could understand.
Set against the violent wilderness of the Peak district, a compulsive sapphic reworking of original vampire novel Carmilla, the book that inspired Dracula: a captivating story of unstoppable hunger . . .
Lenore is the wife of steel magnate Henry, but ten years into their marriage the relationship has soured, and no child has arrived to fill the distance growing between them. Henry’s ambitions take them from London to the Peak District, to the remote, imposing Nethershaw estate, where he plans to host a hunting party. Lenore must work to restore the crumbling house and ready it for Henry’s guests – their future depends on it.
But as the couple travel through the bleak countryside, a shocking carriage accident brings the mysterious Carmilla into Lenore’s life. Carmilla, who is weak and pale during the day but vibrant at night, Carmilla who stirs up something deep within Lenore. And before long, girls from the local villages fall sick, consumed by a terrible hunger . . .
As the day of the hunt draws closer, Lenore begins to unravel, questioning the role she has been playing all these years. Torn between regaining her husband’s affection and the cravings Carmilla has awakened, soon Lenore will uncover a darkness in her household that will place her at terrible risk . . .