Gay Bar: Why We Went Out

'Brilliantly written and incisive' Colm Toibin 'An absolute tour de force' Maggie Nelson Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography Longlisted for the Jhalak Prize 2022 Propulsive music and euphoric crowds; drag queens and go-go dancers; strobe lights, dark rooms and glory holes. Gay bars have long been sites of joy and solidarity, sexual expression and activism. But around the world, they are closing. Atherton Lin draws from his experiences of clubs, pubs and dives in London, San Francisco and Los Angeles - and a transatlantic romance that began late one restless night - to trace queer histories. An expansive and vivacious celebration of an institution, Gay Bar is also a stylish, intimate exploration of what these spaces mean, how they are changing and what we stand to lose when they close their doors. 'Essential' Vogue 'This is exceptional writing' Financial Times