Alternative bookstore, The Bookish Type, has opened its doors in the Merrion Centre (Leeds, West Yorkshire), after hosting a series of successful pop-up book stalls over the last year. The store, set up by Ray Larman and Nicola Hargrave, aims to promote a diverse range of literature that explores all things LGBTQ+. Larman was a previous community development worker for the West Yorkshire Queer Stories heritage project.
Larman told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “We are so excited to finally open our doors to the public. The Merrion Centre is home to some of the city’s most unique independent businesses and it’s great for us to be joining such a diverse mix of indie operators and bring a new LGBTIQA+ space to Leeds. We have received a variety of enquiries from publishers keen for their writers to come along to give talks, and so we hope to stage a series of literary events to showcase these authors as we settle into our new space.”
The Bookish Type’s website can be found here. More information about West Yorkshire Queer Stories – a archive of queer literary and oral history – can be found on their official website.