Book Review: Letters to My Younger Queer Self by Daniel Harding

Letters to My Younger Queer Self: Inspiring, influential voices from the LGBTQIA+ community is a book curated by journalist, Daniel Harding (Gay Man Talking: All the Conversations We Never Had). Reviving the lost art of letter writing, the book is filled with correspondences shared by people from across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum to a version of themselves from youth, as well as allies writing letters to friends, family and the community at large.

Letters to My Younger Queer Self by Daniel Harding. Buy on BookKind or Hive Books

Alongside Daniel’s own opening letter, the book includes writing from a diverse collection of people; other writers, comedians, activists and campaigners, doctors and medical professionals, musicians, drag performers, artists and more! While some are penned by well-known names such as Drag Race’s Alaska, Married at First Sight’s Ella Morgan, and comedian Suzi Ruffell, others are penned anonymously.

Those to contribute to the book include several from across the Midlands including: MP Nadia Whittome; singer, Tom Aspaul; Olympic gymnast, Andrew Stamp; author and travel writer, Calum McSwiggan; activist and public speaker, Hafsa Qureshi; and HIV activist and campaigner, Andrew Donaldson Wheatcroft.

The letters themselves are as diverse as their writers, with some taking a gently humorous tone, like Alaska who jokes about not wanting to alter the course of her life with the advice she gives her younger self, while others are extremely raw and emotional.

The book tackles some difficult topics, so content warning are included before some of the more sensitive letters that explore themes including: mental health, body dysmorphia, SA, homophobia, transphobia, and surgeries on intersex bodies. At times, some of these letters can be difficult to read/listen to but in their openness and honesty is a reader’s ability to feel seen in their experiences and trauma.

Through the letters too, readers are also given several snapshots of queer history and their impact on LGBTQIA+ people, exploring pivotal moments such as equal marriage, the development of PrEP to prevent HIV.

What all the letters in this collection have in common though are their vulnerability and heartfelt tone. Letters to My Younger Queer Self is a reminder to live authentically, no matter what life throws at you because it will be worth it in the future. The writing reassures readers that past mistakes lead you to where you are now.

The writers offer hope, in a book that I am sure many of us, if we could, would want to hand to our younger selves, with a personal letter tucked between its pages.

This article includes affiliate links that support the continuation of Midlands Rainbow