A fundraiser launched on Sunday raised the immediate working capital of £5,000 needed for Lavender Menace, Scotland’s only queer books archive in just 12 hours.
Lavender Menace is an archive which preserves and celebrates LGBTQ+ literature and history and is dedicated to Sigrid Nielsen and Bob Orr, the original co-founders of the bookshop with the same name.
The shop collects rare and out of print queer books and is a space both actual and digital where a community can connect. The shop holds events featuring authors, book clubs and allows access to research.
The ask is to raise £45,000 in the long term and the initial lifeline of £5,000 required has already been raised.
Eleanor Taylor, Curator at Edinburgh Art Festival said: “Our relationship with Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive means a huge amount to us. What began as collaboration has grown into an ongoing, deeply valued relationship, that continues to evolve across projects and over time.
“As the only queer book archive in Scotland, it is an irreplaceable resource for our
programme, our artists, and our audiences, holding vital histories while creating a space of warmth, safety, and belonging. Sustaining places like this, and the relationships they make possible, feels more important than ever.”
Co-Founder Sigrid Nielsen said: “We are facing major challenges as a community as
media distortions grow stronger, court cases are utilised against us, and rightwing groups agitate against the presence of our books in libraries.
“Meanwhile, funding is becoming scarcer for all queer or progressive groups. We want to survive and preserve the resources and the knowledge we’ve collected over 40 years, and so we are calling on the community for your support.”
Lavender Menace explain what the funds will be used for:
- Supporters will be funding:
- ● the only regularly accessible public space in Scotland dedicated to LGBTQI+ cultural heritage
- ● the existence and protection of a growing physical and digital collection of queer
- books, ephemera, and objects documenting LGBTQ+ lives across centuries.
- ● a steady stream of visitors who come to research LGBTQI+ history, develop
- creative work, and build connections across generations (our numbers increased by
- 56% in 24-25, compared to the previous year)
- ● a programme of regular free events, exhibitions, book clubs, discussions, readings
- and cultural interventions
- ● a rewarding and inclusive volunteer programme, with 100% of Lavender Menace
- volunteers gaining new skills, and citing the archive as providing a vital support
- network
- Why should you donate?
- To protect our cultural and literary history to say to the world that we’ve always been
- here. With so few third spaces still around, we provide a unique space for LGBTQ+
- people to come together, connect and learn about our shared history.
- By conserving out of print queer books, we are preserving queer history and
- providing access to readers, writers and researchers.
- Art and booklovers will be delighted by the rewards on offer, with signed books from
- many local writers.
- https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/save-lavender-menace
