Writer, copy editor, co-founder @BonaBooks, co-editor of I Want That Twink OBLITERATED! Still buys physical media. Lives on a boat by the Thames. He/him. 🏳️🌈
Thrilled to announce that, as of today, IWTTO! is available to purchase at the historic @gaystheword Bookshop in London! It also just happens to be their 46th birthday, making this particularly meaningful for us. If you can, please go support this institution of queer lit!
Was in the audience for The Muppet Show and these two people in the balcony showed absolutely zero decorum. I tried to tell them that their ironic detachment is hurting how they engage with art, but they told me I should engage with a better deodorant. Then I cried
btw 2025 is the year of absolute zero tolerance to adult (esp queer adult) fans of H4rry P0tt3r -- you *will* be scooped up by THE CLAW and you *will* be deposited into THE HOLE
This has been... one hell of a year. So many goals obliterated, so much more chaos yet to sow.
It's not easy being a queer small press right now, and the world is a trash fire. The support of both the writing and queer communities has meant the fucking world.
Love you all x
It's time for the State of the Bona address!
(1/3)
ALT A large, white Bona Books "B" on a dark grey background, with "2024 Statement" as a title underneath, and the subtitle "Bona Unwrapped".
ALT Slide 1:
What a time
2024 has been a great big tentacled beast of a year:
1350 Paperbacks
I Want That Twink Obliterated! has gone from a conversation at dinner to a real-life book sought-after around the world.
594 Pledges Fulfilled
With a whole catalogue of supporting merch, we got all of these rewards out to backers on 6 continents.
14 Stories Recorded
We cast our first actors in an audiobook, produced by the incredible Heavy Entertainment. Only 3 are left and we can only say: get excited, get very excited.
ALT Slide 2:
3 Cons
We sold-out our first ever book launch at our first ever World Con, featuring our first ever inflatable tentacles, first ever confetti cannons and first ever drag queen host!
And we took the show on the road for our debut Comic Cons.
2 Bookshops
We finally got into our first ever bookshop, The Common Press! …and now our second(!) with more around the corner.
1 Website Refresh
In case you’ve a friend in need - all of our products and projects are now available through www.bona-books.com
ALT Slide 3:
THANK YOU!
All of this could not happen without immense inputs from authors, artists, designers, printers, manufacturers, suppliers, con organisers, friends and so many more…
Crucially, it would have been completely impossible without support from the patient backers and customers who have kept us afloat in pursuit of queer literary liberation!
Behind the scenes, the team also have to balance driving towards these milestones while figuring out the never-ending complexities of trading as a business and all holding down their own regular full-time jobs, so we are ever grateful for yours kindness understanding along the way
She wants to see “more trans people in the public eye,” whether it be in politics or on television. “Please know I understand and I’m here. I don’t know for what, for a cuddle? I’m here to be the grandma lesbian who goes, ‘Let’s just keep going’.”
ALT When she came out, Sandi faced hostility in the newspapers, and today’s anti-trans rhetoric in the British media makes her feel “very stressed.” She reflects on how, 30 years ago, people feared “lesbians were going to destroy society as we know it”. Now, she sees the transgender community as the target of this same fear.
“I won’t stand by and let that happen. I will stand up each time and say no. Clearly, if you’re anti-trans, it’s because you don’t have any trans friends. If you did, you wouldn’t be able to look yourself in the [mirror] as you say these terrible things.”
She wants to see “more trans people in the public eye,” whether it be in politics or on television. Offering a comforting word to the transgender community, she says: “Please know I understand and I’m here. I don’t know for what, for a cuddle? I’m here to be the grandma lesbian who goes, ‘Let’s just keep going’.”
Leo and I desperately need you. My acc is being targeted with bans and reports by Zionists, and my tweets are not reaching everyone. Please, if u see this tweet, repost and comment with 🍉 or 🇵🇸. And if you’re not following me, please hit follow.
Patti LuPone on Sunset Blvd: “I loved this production! I thought Nicole & Tom were stunning. Nicole was unbelievable, she broke my heart. She is a FORCE. The cast was fantastic, the lighting, the use of the filming worked brilliantly. I was energised when I left the theatre.”
Disney is on a hot streak, but next year's live-action "Snow White" could slow the momentum.
The film has been dogged by expensive reshoots and controversies related to star Rachel Zegler’s social media posts. wp.me/pc8uak-1lF79E
Congratulations to Patti LuPone on her Critics Choice Awards TV Nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Marvel Television’s #AgathaAllAlong! #CriticsChoiceAwards
anyways! apropos of nothing, here’s Jonathan Bailey singing one of the most technically difficult musical theater songs (“getting married today”) in the West End revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Company” for which he won an Olivier Award…before Bridgerton