In a queer northern showcase, Edinburgh’s resident radical bookshop brought together authors Alessandra Thom, Chloe de Lullington and writing duo M K Hardy to celebrate some of the literary talent emerging from the North.

When I attended this showcase in September 2026, I was charmed by the communal spirit that seemed to radiate from within the walls of this small but mighty bookshop. Lighthouse Books is a venue renowned for its year-round community-centred events programme and strives to forge connections by championing marginalised voices. As an ‘unapologetically LBGTQ+ community space’ (Lighthouse Books), their events exemplify their commitment to representation as Chair Pao wove the motif of social and literary camaraderie into every aspect of the event.

The showcase commenced with each author being given the opportunity to introduce their books and read an extract. Following their readings, Pao focused the discussion on the narrative similarities that unified these distinct sapphic storylines, and their questioning highlighted their shared approaches to characterisation and a collaborative writing process.

The sense of community felt as an attendee was echoed in the authors as they stress the value of curating a community even before the book reaches the shelves. In one form or another each author praised editorial collaboration. As “collaborators in every sense of the word” the writing duo M K Hardy discussed their process as one that is propelled by their creative collaboration. They explained that writing together is all they have ever known and described their partnership as the foundation of their books. Although, they admitted that they greatly value external input from editors and agents. Likewise, Thom explains that she greatly benefits from workshopping and receiving feedback on her work from other writers. So, whether it be through traditional publishing channels or via a community of writers, creative collaboration was presented as something to be embraced.

What I found most interesting about the talk was that each of these books follows the story of what Pao described as their ‘unlikeable’ characters, a phrasing that was instantly rebutted by all four speakers. This line of questioning unified the authors in the opinion that without their protagonists’ very evident faults there are no books. While I can admit that flawed characters can be difficult for readers to connect with, it was refreshing to witness a discourse around the necessity of flawed characters as drivers of narrative. I thought that de Lullington summarised the consensus of the conversion well when she said, ‘if you write a flawed character you write a real one’ (de Lullington). Jumping to the defence of their characters, the authors agreed that the presence of a fallible protagonist added depth and realism to their books.

With the conclusion of the discussion portion of the evening, Pao opened the floor to questions from the audience and the event concluded with a chance to mingle, chat to the authors and get their books signed.

Lighthouse Books endeavours to provide a platform for building a community and this showcase was a fantastic introduction to their events. I very much look forward to attending more in the future.

Works Cited:

‘Queer Showcase: A Night of Northern Talent’, Lighthouse | Edinburgh’s Radical Bookshop, 30 Sept. 2026, Lighthouse | Queer Showcase: A night of northern talent