Jeremy Atherton Lin: Coming Out, Going Out

For the past generation it has been possible for LGBTQIA+ people in most of Britain and the USA to go out in an open display of solidarity and sexual freedom that was long denied to those who came before them. The culture of the Gay Bar is the subject of Jeremy Atherton’s book, Gay Bar: Why We Went Out, covering leather parties in San Francisco’s Castro district as well as dark rooms in Vauxhall railway arches in London. It offers a sparkling, entertaining memoir of the author’s own experiences as a mixed-race gay man. According to one review, it is a multi-dimensional book: ‘erotically gamey and intellectually playful, combining soft porn with social theory, semen with semiotics’. But even before they were shut down by Covid, many LGBT-friendly bars around the world had been threatened with closure: rising rents, competition from straight establishments and the popularity of online queer dating had put hundreds of these safe havens at risk. In this event, filmed live at the 2021 Edinburgh International Book Festival, Atherton Lin talks about the joys, memories and vital social histories of gay bars he has known.

Book Festival News

Communities Programme participants celebrate success of 2024 Communities Programme participants celebrate success of 2024
Friday 13 December

Enjoying this event? You can help us produce more like it.

Donate

Share

Watch more

Val McDermid: The Winter of Our Discontent Val McDermid: The Winter of Our Discontent The fan club for Val McDermid’s books just keeps growing – lapping up each new novel featuring either DCI Karen Pirie or Tony Hill and Carol Jordan. But whether you’re an old hand or new to McDermid’s work, there’s something special this August. 1979… Philip Gourevitch Philip Gourevitch The esteemed editor of The Paris Review, Philip Gourevitch discusses the magazine's position as one of the great iconic literary publications. See him divulge behind-the-scenes stories about some of the world's greatest writers who he has interviewed for… Jenny Erpenbeck: Freedom Came at a Price Jenny Erpenbeck: Freedom Came at a Price How does it feel to have been born and raised in East Germany and then, at the end of childhood, thrown into a radically new way of living when the Berlin Wall came down? Jenny Erpenbeck knows the answer. Anyone who has had the pleasure of reading her… Rachel Cusk: Home Truths Rachel Cusk: Home Truths ‘You know when you’re reading a page of Rachel Cusk’s fiction,’ says a reviewer for The New York Times: ‘Her narrators tug insistently if coolly at the central knots of being.’ Readers of Cusk’s acclaimed Outline trilogy will recognise this smart… Nana Oforiatta Ayim & Barnaby Phillips: Returning the Loot Nana Oforiatta Ayim & Barnaby Phillips: Returning the Loot 124 years ago, the British government sent 1,200 soldiers and sailors to invade the Kingdom of Benin in West Africa. This was just one of many so-called 'Punitive Expeditions' launched across the continent by the British Empire. Benin’s soldiers, armed… Craig Brown: The Slippery Art of Biography Craig Brown: The Slippery Art of Biography In One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time, Craig Brown gathered a kaleidoscopic mix of letters, news reports, diaries and much more besides into a brilliantly quirky not-quite-biography of the most successful pop group ever. It won him the prestigious… The Moth (2014 event) The Moth (2014 event) To celebrate the UK launch of their first book, which collects together 50 of their best stories, we invited The Moth, the legendary US storytelling organisation, to create a special one-off evening of stories inspired by our strand of events… Max Hastings speaks with Magnus Linklater at the Edinburgh International Book Festival Max Hastings speaks with Magnus Linklater at the Edinburgh International Book Festival In 1975, military historian Max Hastings boarded a helicopter out of Saigon during the Final Evacuation. He chronicled the controversial conflict in his bestselling Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy, a compelling account foregrounding the personal stories of those… Chris Packham (2016 Event) Chris Packham (2016 Event) As the presenter of BBC's Springwatch, Chris Packham has become one of the nation’s favourite naturalists. But Packham was far from popular as a child: in his brave and lyrical memoir, Fingers in the Sparkle Jar, he recalls life as a solitary child… Jura Unbound: Literary Death Match (2013 event) Jura Unbound: Literary Death Match (2013 event) Four talented author-illustrator teams pit their live storytelling skills against one another in this all-star cartoon caper version of the legendary Literary Death Match…