(version: 2025)
Queer Reads Library operates in the multi-disciplinary practices: running in a mobile format with curated printed materials, queer archiving, researching on queer visual culture, engaging workshops and producing zines as documentation of dialogues, ideas and resistance. The libraries are currently located in Hong Kong by Beatrix Pang, and in Vancouver (Canada) by Rachel Lau. They made spaces for the queer community to gather, celebrate their stories, and explore diverse printed materials, with the aim of connecting with and engaging queer Asian individuals across continents.
「流動閱酷」以多元實踐運作：以流動形式策展讀物、建立酷兒檔案、研究酷兒視覺文化、舉辦工作坊，並製作紀錄對話／想法／抵抗的小誌。
目前由小嘭（Beatrix Pang）於香港及劉可莉（Rachel Lau）於加拿大溫哥華分區營運，為酷兒社群創造聚集空間，共同慶祝自身故事，探索多元讀物，旨在串連亞洲酷兒個體跨越各方對話。
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(version: 2018-2022)
Queer Reads Library (QRL) 流動閱酷 is a mobile collection of books and independently published zines centred around queer narratives and themes. Catalyzed by the removal of ten LGBTQ-themed children’s books from public shelves by the Hong Kong Public Library in June 2018, QRL was created in Fall 2018 to cultivate a space where queer people can gather and celebrate their narratives. In the beginning, we asked ourselves: “Where is the queer community in Hong Kong?”
QRL, much like queer gender and sexuality, is fuelled by the fluid, experimental, and (sometimes) mischievous. We are interested in where our library will take us and who wants to engage with queer histories and narratives, specifically through printed matter.
QRL aims to connect and collaborate with queer Asian people in the continent and in the diaspora. The library was co-founded by artist-publisher Beatrix Pang and artist-curator Kaitlin Chan, and in collaboration with artist-writer Rachel Lau who is based in Vancouver. Currently, Beatrix and Rachel are the active librarians to look after the QRL collections and engaging with different activities of QRL both in Hong Kong and Vancouver.
Regarding submissions, event collaborations, or to just say hi, please contact us at queerreadslibrary (at) gmail.com. Please note that we do not sell books and are not a distributor, we collect books and share them readers at events or through online channels.
**Special thanks to NEKOGATO from Studio Earth on voluntary-designed and developed this webpage and launched in November 2020.**
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Friends of the library:
Asia
Conversations, a series of interview by Singapore Art Book Fair
FILGUYS Association for Filipinx Transmen and Lesbian of Hong Kong
indisczinepartij, a zine collective based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia
infoshop cafe byulkkol, a Korean independent space
Loneliness Books, Tokyo based book and zine distributor for queer printed products
Migrants’ Pride (Hong Kong)
Queer Zine Fest, a Singapore based platform and collective
wares infoshop, a space in Singapore carve out new space for study, agitation, and autonomy beyond capital
zinedabaad, women of color, queer people, trans and non-binary folx making zines, India
ZINE COOP, Hong Kong zine collective and Instagram platform
North America
Asian Zine Fest, based in Toronto, Canada
Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco
joss paper library, a research collective based in Vancouver’s Chinatown, with a focus on self- and independently- published works centering around the Asian diaspora, located on the traditional, ancestral, unceded, and occupied territories of the Coast Salish peoples
Queer Archive Work, a infoshop and print studio based in Rhode Island, USA
Europe and Oceania
daikon*, Zine by and for SE & E Asian people of marginalised genders in the uk diaspora, working towards a wider platform of intersectional solidarity
Red Pocket Press, Queer Asians honouring Year of the Rat through zines, art and food in Melbourne, Australia (occupied territory of Naarm)
Queer Zine Library, UK based mobile zine library
