Tales of the Suburbs

My next book is looking at the stories of LGBTQ+ people in suburbia in the UK in the twentieth century. While much valuable work has gone on to produce books on the urban experience of queer people, much of the suburban story, particularly from the pre-internet age is either hidden or fading from view. I’d like to capture the strange collision of sexuality and suburbia in this book. Certainly my own experience of Croydon in the 1970s-90s and Milton Keynes today has given me an enormous amount of curious tales, many seemingly inexplicable, and I’m sure I’m not the only one with stories to tell.

I’ve finished conducting interviews for the book now, but if you’re interested in the project you can still get in touch, it’s always great to hear from other people.

I’ll be donating the transcripts of the interviews to the Bishopsgate Institute whose LGBTQ+ cultural collections are second to none. The book, Tales of the Suburbs, will be published by Faber and Faber in January 2026.