Three Thousand Lesbians Go to York; The Story of a Queer Arts Festival.

A Book launch event introducing an iconic piece of lesbian history. ‘Three Thousand Lesbians Go to York’ by Jane Traies combines pictures, memories and written stories to commemorate the largest women’s arts festival in the UK and the women’s bookshop that gave birth to it.

Jane Traies is a queer historian and storyteller. Her best-seller ‘Now You See Me’ is a collection of older lesbian life stories; her second life-story collection, ‘Free to Be Me,’ captures the stories of a group of lesbian and bisexual women asylum seekers. Jane also co-authors, with Jacky Bratton, historical fiction under the name Jay Taverner. She launched their latest novel ‘Liberty’ at the 2023 festival.

This year Jane introduces her new book, ‘Three Thousand Lesbians Go to York.’ It tells the story of the York Lesbian Arts Festival which, from 1998 to 2008, was the largest gathering of lesbian and bi women in the UK. Every autumn, thousands of women would flock to hear their favourite authors and singers, buy piles of lesbian books and dance the night away. This lavishly-illustrated book – part oral history, part photo album – tells the story of that sapphic idyll for a new generation.

Jane is always looking for new ways to make hidden histories heard and seen, so alongside writing this book she has co-produced a documentary film with the same title which will also be screened during the festival.