PYKE, Sarah; KASSIR, Leila
Seized Books! LGBTQ+ books and censorship in 1980s Britain: A catalogue

Seized Books! describes the publications that were wrongly confiscated from the UK's first lesbian and gay bookshop, Gay's the Word, by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise, from 10th April 1984 onwards. A print version of an online exhibition hosted by Senate House Library, the catalogue explores a large list of gay and lesbian publications, from zines, poems and novels to non-fiction. Seized Books! shifts the focus from the repressive interventions of the British state to the exuberance and liberation of LGBTQ+ publishing and bookselling in the early 1980s, and shows how queer communities continue to defend their freedom to read, even in a climate of increasing censorship.

[publisher's note]

Published by Page Masters, 2025
Queer Culture / Book Culture