Among all the high energy festivities of Pride season, in Durham there is a married couple who go about things differently. Their focus is running smaller free events throughout the year, usually picnics, creating calmer community spaces for queer people. Husbands Chris and Miles who run BookWyrm, a shop in Durham City’s market hall, have been selling queer books since 2022 and have just had their second birthday. To celebrate, they hosted the incredibly talented Dean Atta, who is currently on a book tour for his new book Person Unlimited: An Ode to my Black Queer Body, doing readings and a Q&A.
Gatherings like this are essential. It can be really hard to find events and spaces that de-centre alcohol, loud noise and bright lights. All very exciting, but nonetheless a specific sensory palette not suitable for everyone, nor accessible for all. Unfortunately, these spaces, and as a result Pride season, can be difficult for many who are recalibrating or abstaining from substances. It can sometimes mean the choice of being around a lot of triggers, facing overstimulation, or being isolated. More than just fear of missing out, it can feel like you’re losing community by trying to be in communion with your body’s needs, so it’s vital to ensure Pride is accessible.
Bookwyrm’s events usually take place in Wharton Park, signposted by the many pride flags hanging above, with some complimentary snacks, board games and other things available for people to do there. For this event there was a bookmark and rock painting workshop run by artist and illustrator Jasmine Heywood to support the local mental health charity RT Projects. It’s a family friendly vibe that attracts a wide variety of people, all of whom just want a nice spot to relax with others for free. They often are pointing out other local charities and artists to support, and genuinely so proud to be doing what they are doing. The only request made of people turning up is to not bring alcohol.
This particular event was a full circle one for BookWyrm, as they have long been urging people to read Atta’s works. Black Flamingo, his YA novel that was also read at the event, was one of the very first books they sold. They were big enough supporters that on more than one occasion Dean himself was told about BookWyrm through friends that had popped by the shop only to be encouraged to pick up one of his books and ending up in a funny conversation after revealing Dean is actually a friend.
Two years later and they’re welcoming him to a small field in Wharton Park. Despite being the star of the show, before the reading you might have mistaken Atta for another event-goer, as he spent at least an hour if not more just sitting at the tables and chatting with people. You can tell he loves a good conversation and hearing someone else’s words as much as sharing his own; he is warm and welcoming.
Reading passages from both the recently released Person Unlimited and Black Flamingo, his most well known work, you can see how much of Dean’s personal life was a basis for the latter. But where the latter is focused on providing a story of self exploration for teenagers and children, especially queer children of colour, Person Unlimited is the adult deep-dive into reality. Atta wanted to write the idealised version in Black Flamingo in order to give young people something uplifting and validating in a way that he hadn’t experienced.
Person Unlimited goes into many topics, from his early experiences with spoken word and his relationship with his father through to sexual assault, post-traumatic responses, and Atta’s perspective on sex and relationships and how they changed throughout his life. Having written for children and young adults previously he explained that he aimed to write for each age range and Person Unlimited was specifically for adults. The latter three topics, and the frankness in how they are discussed, could not exist in something intended for children. A full review is here, but in short it is a deeply insightful and worthwhile book.
The Q&A afterwards was also enlightening, from discussing the different paths to publishing, to writing the book while respecting the wishes of those who did not want to be mentioned, to how writing the book has been a healing process for him and has led to people telling him how resonant his words were with their experiences. Again, the love of good conversation shone through, as he was happy to give long answers and respond to follow-up questions.
Chris and Miles at Bookwyrm are working to make sure that there are sober, family-friendly queer events for people in Durham throughout the year and also encouraging people of all ages to read, and read queer! This is on top of running a bookshop, all while Miles is writing his own works. That level of effort and dedication is staggering. It is not that no sober events and activities exist for queer people: it’s that often they have to be searched for. They deserve to be supported with the same fervour we support a party, if we want to see them flourish.
Bookwyrm’s next events are Durham Children’s Book Festival in collaboration with Durham Markets on August 20th & 21st 2024, where Miles will be reading from Summer Bell Blues, his soon-to-be released book, and their next Big Gay Picnic is October 6th. They have a website for their bookshop for orders if you cannot make it to the store in person, and are available on Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook and Twit/X. They also have a Patreon available for people to offer support if they wish.
