(call us pandemic grouches, but a Valentine’s where smooching everyone is literally illegal seems a sad time indeed) with a celebration of LGBTQI+ History Month and swoon-worthy spoken word.

You’re all invited to come along and revel in the glorious queer triple-threat of this headline trio of heartbreakers: Jenny Foulds, Desree and Reece Lyons. Not to mention there will be a few open mic slots available for those of you that are missing sharing your work with the world. (Express your interest by filling out this form.)

You’ll be amply hosted by the double act that brought you Romy and Michelle skits, wigs and shaven heads at our tenth birthday party, That’s What She* Said Bristol host Bridget Hart and London host Paul Forster, bringing you their signature pop-culture silliness between performances alongside other special guests and surprises.

In addition to all that, our pals from Cipher Press will be joining to tell you all about their incredible #NewQueerVoices campaign, including what they most want to see from you in their submissions pile.

Don your ballgowns and tuxes, invite a digital long-distance date and break out the rainbow glitter. We honestly can’t wait to get the gang together online again and celebrate our brilliant community of unromantic queerdos, at the same time as raising some much-needed funds to see us through the next few months. We know you’d be heartbroken if we weren’t around, and the past year has hit us incredibly hard.

Real talk time: our live events are the only part of For Books’ Sake that make any money. With our workshops and retreats, we cover our costs and pay our facilitators, but next-to-nothing goes back into the kitty. Maybe not the best of business plans, but we got into this to build and support a community, not become millionaires.

Our monthly live events in London, Manchester and Bristol have always functioned as fundraisers that make the rest of what we do possible. We don’t get any external funding from anywhere else. So going almost a year without those live events has had a massive impact, and we’re struggling.

If you want to show us some love this Valentine’s, there’s an option to make an additional donation when you buy your ticket. Everything penny you donate will go towards ensuring our survival, and you’ll get our eternal love and gratitude too.

We also know the unprecedented surrealness of the past year has hit some of you hard, so we’ve set aside a number of free tickets for those of you who wouldn’t otherwise be able to attend. If you want one of these, please just email us.