CITY BOOKS

present

TASH WALKER & ADAM ZMITH

talking about

THE LOG BOOKS:

VOICES OF QUEER BRITAIN AND THE HELPLINE THAT LISTENED

In this new book, Tash Walker and Adam Zmith capture queer lives in stunning detail,

embarking on a journey of both collective history and self-discovery and propelling it

into the very foreground of our national history.

In a crawlspace at the offices of Switchboard, a queer helpline in operation since 1974, lies dozens of log books kept by volunteers describing the phone calls they had taken: a teenager whose parents had kicked them out of home for dressing as the wrong gender; a lesbian terrified of having her baby taken away from her; a man arrested for chatting up another man in a public toilet; a young person wanting to know how to come out. These logs were traces of tens of thousands of queer lives, a bridge to a past hidden from people like Walker and Zmith in their youth, captured by people who lent an ear to those in need.

They came of age in the time of Section 28. In recovering these logs, they encountered people grappling with feelings, questions and problems both familiar and different, and set out to learn from – and sometimes speak to – those on both sides of the calls.

Charged with joy, gossip, sensuality, humour and sometimes fear, and with a potent relevance to the world today, these stories are brought together in The Log Books.

“One of the most intimate portrayals of LGBTQ+ history as you’re going to get . .

moving and informative in equal parts’ HUNGER MAGAZINE

‘An intimate history of LGBTQ+ life over four decades, discovered in a stash of

forgotten, handwritten notes.A fantastic journey through an overlooked archive

bursting with humanity and real life on every page.’ DAN SNOW

‘In opening the Switchboard archive, and all the vulnerability and thrill contained

within its pages, this book manages to capture something of the essence of what it

means to be alive.’ AMELIA ABRAHAM

SIGNED COPIES OF THE LOG BOOKS WILL BE ON SALE ON THE EVENING

PRESENTED BY CITY BOOKS