Staff at a new radical bookshop in Bethnal Green are aiming to raise £10,000 to sustain their worker-led venue, and harm reduction hub, after unionising against their last employer.
In partnership with legal drug advice charity Release, The People’s Letters is dedicated to platforming marginalised voices through hosting trans-inclusive and sex-work positive events, publishing independent writers and offering free drug tests.
The People’s Letters was created by the staff of The Scarlet Letters, another radically inclusive bookshop, which closed in 2025 due to unresolved disputes between the staff and management.
Bookseller and sex worker Jack Parker said: “We think it’s important to have the space available for homeless people to hang out and have a coffee and chat with us and not feel the pressure to spend money because we don’t want everything we do in practice to be about money.
“This money [from the Crowdfund] means doing things that keep our space completely free for people who need it, like trans and sex-worker groups.”
Since opening in October 2025, the venue has hosted a tarot-themed writers workshop, a bilingual French and English lesbian poetry workshop, and a literary pub quiz.
Jack said: “People use us as a third space that doesn’t include nightlife.
“We’re finding there’s a massive demand for it, and we’re constantly having sex workers, and queer and trans reading groups, who not only want the space, but to know we’re queer friendly.”
With the money raised, they are hoping to grow the community space and continue hosting events – including life drawing workshops which are particularly difficult to host in less-inclusive spaces.
When The Scarlet Letters closed, seven of the unionised workers struggled to afford a space that would be suitable for the bookshop.
With some of the staff being part-time volunteers with Release, they pitched the mutually beneficial opportunity of a harm reduction hub in the bookshop.
Jack said: “Our shop front allows service users to come in without announcing to people outside where they are going.
“[Release] really scooped us up and helped us at a time when we were vulnerable and there’s no way we could do this without them.”
In the cabinets, they have freely available naloxone, unused syringes, test strips, menstrual products and sexual health products.
They sell a range of books in English and other languages, both new and secondhand – which can be bought on a ‘pay what you can’ basis.
They also publish independent artists from the UK and overseas on a royalties basis (so 60% of each sale goes straight to the creator) and have a selection of zines, crafts and prints for sale.
Jack believes they have helped more than 100 independent artists get their work published.
You can donate to The People’s Letters here.
Featured image credit: Grace Crowley
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