The Small Queer Press Book Club is a continuous 2026 book club at The Pond aiming to uplift queer published works from smaller -mostly indie and micro- presses focusing on diverse stories of LGBTQIA+ life and people.

The book club will run in 2-3 month cycles, each cycle focusing on a different press.

In November and December we are exploring the works from Metonymy Press. For December we are reading “The Sacred Heart Motel” by Grace Kwan:

The Sacred Heart Motel is a map for lapses in time, for the air between the dust. Poems in a multiverse narrative bring the reader on a tour of the motel, from amenities to rooms to back alleys, through the generations of ghosts and queer love stories, until they are left alone with the heart at the centre of the narrative. Music forms the rungs of this manuscript, from nighttime quiet to an orchestral intermission to a crescendo of exposed interiors. New poet Grace Kwan is ruthless and nimble, guiding us through the recesses of body and roadside space.

Born out of an underground queer event in Montreal, Metonymy Press, publish one to four books a year since 2015. They work slow, community-based, and largely diy, with a focus on queer, feminist literary fiction and nonfiction, featuring unconventional genres with authors and books that reframe power and affirm life. They seek work that transgresses boundaries, undermines the status quo, and sustains those on the margins.

Read more about them here: https://metonymypress.com/about-us/

*no reader commitment!*
- read the book, or start reading it
- show up to the discussion
- no sign ups needed
- you can go to one, or some, or all
- book club is held monthly
- 2-3 month cycles highlighting a different queer press
- the books are available at The Pond
- the books are in english, mostly fiction

There are copies of the book available at The Pond for a 10% discount!

If you want to join the bookclub remotely, or track your reading for these books, you can joining the Storygraph challenge for funsies.