Montreal's Lire Queer Reader Fest (May 16-23, 2026)

More on this year's new festival for queer book lovers.

A couple of weeks ago, I announced the initial programming for Lire Queer Reader Fest, a citywide celebration of queer literature in Montreal running May 16–23. Are you as excited about it as I am?

Of course it would be great to attend ALL events, but that’s going to be impossible (especially, as some nights there are two activities to choose from). Personally, I am going to try to attend at least five book club meetings. Anyone else with me?

When I first approached the city’s book clubs/bookstores last year with this idea, I was excited to see who was in and which titles they would pick. The only prerequisite I gave was not to select a book already selected by another group. Still, I suppose there was the danger of getting a homogenous selection of titles, but in the end I am thrilled with the choices. We have works of literary fiction, non-fiction, poetry, a play, a zine anthology, a graphic novel, and romances, all written from a variety of perspectives. It feels like there is something for everyone.

The Violet Hour Book Club is hosting, or co-hosting, three of these meetings. Toronto’s Sapphic Arts & Letters (SAL) will be coming to Montreal for a joint meeting between our groups on Saturday, May 16. As they are our guests, I asked SAL to select the title and they choose The History of a Difficult Child by Mihret Sibhat (Penguin Random House, 2023). There are only 15 spots for VHBC members this month, as we need to keep 15 places for the visiting Toronto group. Sign up for your spot here.

VHBC members will also be leading two other meetings. Brooke Lee will be facilitating a discussion of Montreal writer Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch’s poetry collection, The Good Arabs (Metonymy Press, 2021) on Thursday, May 21 at Argo Bookshop. The book won the Grand Prix du livre de Montréal in 2022, the city’s highest literary honour, and was recently translated into French by Olivia Tapiero as Arabes comme il faut (Éditions Triptyque, 2026). Folks are welcome to read the book in either language, while the moderation will happen in English.

Longtime VHBC member Héctor Gálvez, who has been documenting our meetings with his wonderful photographs, will be leading a discussion of Antes que anochezca by Reinaldo Arenas (Tusquets Editores, 1992), our first time engaging with Spanish-language readers. For this event, we are partnering with the group Latinos en Montreal. Folks are welcome to read the title in Spanish, in English (Before Night Falls), or in French (Avant la nuit), and contribute to the discussion in whichever language they feel most comfortable in. You do not need to speak Spanish to participate, but please be aware that you also may not understand everything that’s said (and that’s okay)! The meeting takes place on Sunday, May 17, but the venue is still TBC as we are working to find a place.

Mes Pants de Queer is a used bookstore in Montreal and I’m so happy they selected a classic – Les passions du samedi by André Roy (Les Herbes Rouges, 1979). Ahead of its time, the poems in this collection are deeply rooted in Montreal’s gay nightlife and speak frankly about male desire and emotional vulnerability. Also, the book is almost out of print (which feels like an appropriate choice for a used bookshop) but Violet Hour and MPDQ have secured eight copies. Write to me, or MPDQ, to get your copies (unless you have your own rare copy at home). The event is on Tuesday, May 19 at the Mes Pants de Queer space.

The VHBC explored zine culture last November and read the first issue of Gender Trash from Hell. Those who missed it, or who want to dive deeper into the text, can join Dick’s Lending Library as they read the Gender Trash from Hell anthology edited by Mirha-Soleil Ross (Little Puss Press, 2025). The book collects remastered versions of all five issues of the ground-breaking Canadian zine. The book also includes an unfinished fifth issue and essays by Trish Salah and Leah Tigers. The discussion will take place on Saturday, May 23 at Brique X Brique. Please note that the event is fragrance free and that K/N95 masks are required (and will be provided).

Romance has always been a popular genre, but it seems to be having a huge moment right now with the immense popularity of a certain hockey series. Librairie Pulp Books & Café in Verdun recently launched their Romance Book Club, and for Lire Queer they have selected You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian (HarperCollins Canada, 2024), an “emotional, slow-burn” historical romance set in 1960s NYC. The discussion takes place on Thursday, May 21.

Joie de livres, a bilingual bookstore in the Mile-End that specializes in romance, has selected Crash Test by Amy James, in honour of the Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada, which happens in Montreal the same week. The discussion will take place on Tuesday, May 19, and the bookstore will also host an event with the author, alongside Quebec novelist Christine Laramée, on Friday, May 22.

I am a big fan of Jame and their Gay Writes account and events, which brings hilarity, verve, sexiness and bite to books. I’m thrilled they chose an audacious play for their selection. Canadian novelist and playwright Jordan Tannahill’s Prince Faggot (Playwrights Canada Press, 2025) was the toast of Off-Broadway last fall. The play critiques the British monarchy and the commodification of queer identity, imaging a world where Prince George of Cambridge is a gay man. Discussion takes place at Pulp Books & Café (their homebase) on Monday, May 18.

Librairie Drawn & Quarterly is known for many things, among them their incredible selection of graphic novels. Their graphic novel book club is not normally queer, but they have chosen to read a queer book for the festival. Firebugs by Nino Bulling (Drawn & Quarterly, 2024) is set against the background of global climate change and asks what it means to transition in a transitioning world.

Librairie Saint-Henri Books has also chosen a queer book for their Deep Cuts with David book club, which explores minor works, forgotten titles, and 20th century authors rarely printed. For Lire Queer, they have selected Love Letters: Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West (Penguin Random House Canada, 2022), a collection of fascinating letters and diary entries between the two authors who had a romantic (and probably sexual) relationship with each other in the 1920s.

More French titles

In addition to the title selected by Mes Pants de Queer above, Lire Queer features several additional book club meetings in French (if we do this again next year, hopefully there will be more).

Montreal librarian Miguel Gosselin Dionne and his friend Marilou Dupuis have an “end-of-the-world book club,” named Lucioles et morilles, which chooses books that root us in times of catastrophe. For Lire Queer, they’ve selected Martine Delvaux’s Il faut beaucoup aimer les femmes qui pleurent (Éditions Héliotrope, 2025), a work of non-fiction that has the Quebec author re-writing/re-thinking the story of her destructive love affair with her ex-wife, which she first recounted in 2012’s Les cascadeurs de l’amour n’ont pas droit au doublage – a book where she portrayed her partner as a man. The event will take place on Sunday, May 17 at Librairie n’était-ce pas l’été.

The Le Cercle de Lecture is a group of avid readers who gather at the back of the Arte & Farina Italian bakery/coffee shop in the Village to discuss a French title (not always queer). I’ve stumbled upon them a few times and have been charmed by seeing them discussing books in a public setting. Led by Sébastien Riquier, the group has selected Kev Lambert’s Querelle de Roberval (Éditions Héliotrope, 2018) for the festival and will be discussing it on Saturday, May 23.

Finally, Fierté littéraire has selected Souterrain by Val Bah (Collection Martiales, Éditions du remue-ménage, 2025) as their selection. Our group read the book in English as part of the Read Quebec Book Fair in December 2024. If you missed it, or would like to read it in its original, you can join their meeting on Monday, May 18 at Maison Plein Cœur.

Please remember, each group manages their own meetings and has their own guidelines and instructions for participants. Some even require you to sign-up in advance (not all RSVPs links are live yet either), so please take the time to read the requirements and check back for updates.

EVENTS

Additional social activities are also currently being planned. I had hoped to be able to announce them today, but it’s been difficult to get all my ducks in a row. Watch this space for more news coming soon.

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AND FINALLY, A REMINDER ABOUT THIS WEEKEND: New venue

Just a reminder for those planning to attend this Saturday’s meeting to discuss The Tiger and The Cosmonaut — we are meeting at Galerie SKOL (372 Ste-Catherine West St., #444). The meeting takes place in collaboration with their current exhibition, Réveiller l’Androgyne. Reviving the Bookstore. The discussion begins at 3 PM, but people are invited to come earlier, or stay later, to check out the artwork (Gallerie SKOL is open from 12 to 5:30 PM on Saturdays, and I will be there as of 2 PM).

Happy reading!!