Thank You For Calling the Lesbian Line with Elizabeth Lovatt

Join Elizabeth Lovatt as she shares her research from the Islington's Pride archive and how she turned living history into her debut non-fiction book Thank You For Calling the Lesbian Line. There will be an opportunity to hear from Elizabeth on the history of the Lesbian Lines and how she discovered the stories of the women who rang the Women's Line at London Friend - one of the oldest LGBTQ+ charities that is still running today in Islington.

Elizabeth will present a short talk followed by an audience Q&A and a chance to see some of the objects from the archive relating to lesbian history in Islington. Copies of the book will be available to buy at the event.

Tickets are free, but please book ahead.

This event is part of Islington Museum & Archives Pride Month programme, sharing stories and inspiration from the Islington's Pride archive collection. You can also explore our LGBTQ+ heritage map of Islington here.

Elizabeth Lovatt is a writer of fiction and creative non-fiction, originally from Leicester and now living in London. Her first book Thank You For Calling the Lesbian Line was published by Dialogue Books in 2025 and was shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize 2026 and the 2026 Lambda Literary Awards. The book, which is part social history, part memoir, reimagines the women who both called and volunteered for the Lesbian Line in the 1990s, whilst also tracing Elizabeth’s own journey from accidentally coming out to disastrous dates to finding her chosen family. It has been described as “a timely and vital exploration of how lesbian identity continues to remake and redefine itself in the 21st century” and “a heartfelt history of the gay community”.

In 2019 she was a writer-in-residence for Islington's Pride and the ruckus! archive. In November 2020 she was accepted onto Penguin Books’ #WriteNow mentorship scheme and has an MA in Creative and Critical Writing from Birkbeck. Her dissertation was awarded the Lynne Segal BiGS Prize in Gender and Sexuality.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Islington Archives, 245 St John Street, London, United Kingdom

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