Toronto’s LGBTQ+ literary and cultural scene has a new home. Glad Day Lit, a non-profit–run bookshop and event space with deep roots in the city’s queer community, has officially opened its doors at 32 Lisgar Street in Toronto’s West Queen West neighbourhood.
The new space, located just steps from Queen Street and the Drake Hotel, opened in mid-September and has already become a vibrant hub for book lovers, artists, and community members. The organization behind Glad Day Lit previously operated the historic Glad Day Bookshop — the world’s oldest LGBTQ+ bookstore — which served the Church-Wellesley Village for a decade before closing earlier this year due to rising rent costs.
The new west-end location occupies the main floor of a city-owned building, with a cozy ground-floor bookstore and two event spaces on the second floor shared with local arts organizations. The bookshop offers an expanded range of queer and trans fiction, poetry, non-fiction, youth titles, zines, and buttons, with more new releases than its previous location. Recent titles on the shelves include Alison Bechdel’s Spent and Nicola Dinan’s Disappoint Me, both popular with visitors.
Since opening, Glad Day Lit has hosted button and zine-making workshops, author readings, and community events. During Nuit Blanche, the space transformed into a late-night stage featuring over two dozen performers presenting erotica, poetry, music, and more. Staff say the new multi-level setup offers greater flexibility than the previous one-room store, allowing the bookstore to operate downstairs while events take place above.
“We don’t have anything like this in Ottawa as far as I know,” said Aria Mann, a visiting university student who discovered the space through TikTok and made the trip during the All Things Go Music Festival. “I was interested in picking up some things that are harder to get your hands on otherwise.”
Although foot traffic is lighter than at its former Church Street location — tucked just 100 metres south of Queen Street West through Lisgar Park — the new shop benefits from lower rent as a non-profit tenant of the City of Toronto. This improved financial model, along with access to grants and donations, ensures long-term sustainability for the community space.
Glad Day Lit is currently open Wednesday through Friday from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., and weekends from noon to 9 p.m. Upcoming events include “Euchre for Queer Strangers,” a pay-what-you-can card game night, among others.
With its expanded book selection, flexible event spaces, and renewed focus on supporting queer and trans communities, Glad Day Lit is poised to continue the legacy of its predecessor — creating a welcoming and sustainable cultural home for Toronto’s LGBTQ+ communities.