Award-winning LGBTQ+ history podcast The Log Books is being adapted into a book under independent publishing house Faber, written by the podcast’s co-creators and hosts Tash Walker and Adam Zmith.
The book is set to be released in autumn 2025 and will be inspired by the podcast, looking at archive material from LGBTQ+ helpline Switchboard from 1974. Walker and Zmith also told PodPod in an upcoming interview for the podcast that the book will also feature insights into the process of looking at the archived entries, and how it impacted them.
“For the book, we're going back and reflecting on that process as two thirty-somethings who are children of Section 28, educated entirely underneath that piece of legislation - which was brought in under Thatcher - that said effectively that homosexuality couldn't be promoted or talked about in schools, and there was a lot of censorship involved,” Walker told PodPod. “That went from 1988 to 2003, and that was our education, so there's a theme that came out of The Log Books podcast which we'll be talking about in the book.”
The Log Books ran from 2017 to 2022 for three seasons, and won Gold for Best New Podcast at the 2020 British Podcast Awards. Following the successful launch of The Log Books, Walker and Zmith co-founded independent production company Aunt Nell with producer Shivani Dave.
The production company has since launched a number of podcasts, including On The Record with The National Archives, which also looks at archived work, Queer Roots and Routes, Black and Gay, Back in the Day, and more.
“It is a genuine privilege to be working with Tash and Adam on this incredible project,” said Faber commissioning editor Mo Hafeez, who acquired the UK and Commonwealth rights for the book, excluding Canada and audio rights. “Their writing represents a bridge to the past, a reflection of the present, and a look into the future; they succeed in capturing queer lives and history but do not settle there, opting instead to propel these things into the very foreground of our national story.”
The full PodPod podcast interview with Walker and Zmith will be published next week, available to listen to on the PodPod website and on all major podcast platforms.
