Celebrate LGBT+ History Month

LGBT+ History Month is an annual celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history. Taking place during the month of February, it provides an opportunity to reflect and celebrate the LGBT+ community’s history and achievements. It’s also a time to raise awareness, combat prejudice and celebrate diversity. 

Richmond upon Thames library service have selected books that share LGBT+ stories. You can search for these books in our libraries.

Queer City – Peter Ackroyd

Queer City follows the history and experiences of the LGBT population of London beginning with Roman Londinium and exploring the "endless loop of alternating permissiveness and censure" that followed. Today, we live in an era of openness and tolerance and Queer London has become part of the new norm. Ackroyd tells us the hidden story of how it got there, celebrating its diversity, thrills and energy on the one hand; but reminding us of its very real terrors, dangers and risks on the other.

Fabulosa: The Story of Polari – Paul Baker

Polari is a language that was used chiefly by gay men in the first half of the twentieth century. Paul Baker recounts the story of Polari with skill, humour and tenderness. He traces its historical origins and describes its linguistic nuts and bolts, explores the ways and the environments in which it was spoken, explains the reasons for its decline and tells of its unlikely re‐emergence in the twenty‐first century.

All Down Darkness Wide – Sean Hewitt

When Sean meets Elias, the two fall headlong into a love story. But as Elias struggles with depression, the couple comes face-to-face with crisis. Wrestling with this, Sean Hewitt delves deep into his own history, enlisting the ghosts of queer figures and poets before him.

A luminous and haunting memoir from the prize-winning poet - a story of love, heartbreak and coming of age, and a fearless exploration of queer identity and trauma.

Gender Swapped Greek Myths - Jonathan Plackett

For thousands of years, Greek myths have been told and retold. In these stories, brutality and bravery are reserved for men, while women are wicked witches or helpless maidens. Today, these myths continue to shape our ideas about justice, tragedy and what makes a hero’s journey. Karrie and Jonathan love these stories, and have found a way to breathe new life into them by making one crucial change.

This Much is True – Miriam Margolyes

Award-winning actor, creator of a myriad of memorable characters from Lady Whiteadder to Professor Sprout, Miriam Margolyes is a national treasure. Now, at the age of 80, she has finally decided to tell her extraordinary life story. And it's far richer and stranger than any part she's played.

Queer: A Graphic History - Meg-John Barker and Jules Scheele

Activist-academic Meg-John Barker and cartoonist Jules Scheele illuminate the histories of queer thought and LGBTQ+ action in this groundbreaking non-fiction graphic novel.

From identity politics and gender roles to privilege and exclusion, Queer explores how we came to view sex, gender and sexuality in the ways that we do; how these ideas get tangled up with our culture and our understanding of biology, psychology and sexology; and how these views have been disputed and challenged.