Queer Beyond London

Manchester University Press is delighted to announce the forthcoming paperback release of Queer beyond London: LGBTQ stories from four English cities by authors and academics Matt Cook and Alison Oram. Scheduled for publication in November 2024, the book is an alternative celebration of LGBTQ history in Britain, offering tales of queer life from four cities, with a new foreword by Andrew McMillan which is a paperback exclusive.

A rich celebration of the everyday LGBTQ stories that have been shaped by – and have helped to shape – modern English urban life. Insightful, inspiring
and completely fascinating. Sarah Waters, author of Tipping the Velvet and The Paying Guests When it comes to queer British history, London has stolen the limelight. But what about the millions of queer lives lived elsewhere? In Queer beyond London, two leading LGBTQ historians take you on a journey through four English cities from the sixties to the noughties, exploring the northern post-industrial heartlands and taking in the salty air of the seaside cities of the south. Covering the bohemian, artsy world of Brighton, the semi-hidden queer life of military Plymouth, the lesbian activism of Leeds and the cutting-edge dance and drag scenes of Manchester, they show how local people, places and politics shaped LGBTQ life in each city, forging vibrant and distinctive queer cultures of their own.