i wrote a book!

at 400+ pages it's the very opposite of a tiny narrative... oops

I wrote a book! It’s called THANK YOU FOR CALLING THE LESBIAN LINE¹. It took me about four years to write and was honestly a lot of hard work² so I really hope people like it. It’s about the history of lesbian telephone helplines, realising I was gay in my late 20s and what lesbian community means to me today. I think you’d like it even if you aren’t a lesbian³, especially if you are a nosey person like me who likes hearing about the ordinary everyday lives of people.

According to my publisher it is written with ‘warmth and humour’ and ‘is a timely and vital exploration of how lesbian identity continues to remake and redefine itself in the 21st century, and where it might lead us in the future.’ So there.

Since my newsletter is all about tiny narratives it behooves me to say there are actually many tiny narratives in this book! Throughout, I reimagine the voices of many of the women who called and worked at the line: from teenagers being bullied at school, to reminders to plug in the answering machine, to older women who have never said the word lesbian before that day. It was my way to connect back to these women from “history”⁴ and discover my lesbian inheritance. They were some of my favourite pieces to write!

I wrote the book I would have wanted to read when I was questioning everything I thought I knew about myself and didn’t know where to start. And I know this is a thing writers say but honestly, if just one person finds something useful and helpful in it then it will have been worth it.⁵

You can preorder it from all good/evil bookshops right now which is a huge help to unknown debut authors like me and if you like it please leave a review on a platform of your choice. It all helps!⁶

Events

I’m also doing some book events and talks around the country! Here are some links to those events in case you live near these places:

• Sunday 9 February - I’ll be on BBC Radio London from 11.30ish (eeeeeee!)

• Wednesday 12 February - Talk at Forest Gate Library, Newham (free)

• Thursday 13 February - In conversation with Kat Lyons at Glouster Road Books, Bristol (£)

• Wednesday 19 February - In conversation with Charlotte Mendelson, Daunt Books Summerton, Oxford (£)

• Tuesday 27 February - In conversation with Nicola Hargrave, The Bookish Type, Leeds (free/£)

• Thursday 6 March - In Conversation with Roisin Dunnet, interviewed by Alex Peak-Tomkinson, Pages of Hackney, London (£)

• Wednesday 26 March - In Conversation with Sasha de Buyl-Pisco, Lighthouse Bookshop, Edinburgh and online (free/£)

Plus more to come!

If you’ve been reading this newsletter from its beginning back in the tinyletter days (2018!!) then thanks for sticking around <3

Elizabeth x

1. Why yes, I do regret having such a long title, I honestly thought it would get changed at some point by the publishers but here we are.

2. Congratulations to anyone who has published a book. Even terrible ones because OMG it’s a lot of work.

3. Or you could buy it for your lesbian cousin or work colleague or neighbour. Lesbians love reading about lesbians, trust me.

4. The calls are from the 90s but it’s sorta wild that their stories are already at the risk of being forgotten - part of the reason I wanted to write this book!

5. Obviously, if it becomes a multi-million bestseller I won’t be mad about it.

6. If you don’t like it just pretend this never happened. If you do bump into me in person and feel obliged to say something I would suggest describing the book as “interesting” or “very ambitious”