About Us

The Coast is Queer is Brighton’s annual festival of LGBTQ+ writing. The first of its kind in the UK, the festival creates a space for queer readers, writers and allies to come together in a grassroots celebration of the written word and its ability to illuminate and enrich the life of our community.

The past decade has seen a substantial rise in the number of LGBTQ+ titles published and brilliant queer book shops springing up across the UK. The Coast is Queer was established in 2019 to honour and contribute to this blossoming. But our commitment to queer literature extends beyond celebration. The festival also interrogates the ecosystems that make queer literature possible and invites authors into conversation with audiences and with each other.

History teaches us that liberation is not a straight line. It is an ongoing struggle that can move backwards as well as forwards. The attacks on trans rights underway in the UK and the growing suppression of LGBTQ+ stories in the form of book bans around the world are yet more evidence that we need to come together to champion our stories and our story-tellers now more than ever.

Please join us at The Coast is Queer for a feast of literature local and global in the UK’s queerest city.

About The Coast is Queer

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