Under the Umbrella Bookstore is your local queer bookstore. No other bookstore in the area specifically caters to the queer community, providing a safe space for queer folks of all ages to congregate and celebrate their stories. We share queer stories from around the world and highlight the talents and insights of local and international members of this community.

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Hours

Tuesday - Friday noon - 8 p.m.

Saturday - Sunday 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

 

About the Books

Under the Umbrella stocks books across all genres and for all ages, including current and classic fiction, nonfiction, poetry, graphic novels, and more. Every book in our store is either queer in content and/or written by queer authors. We also focus on books by small presses and self-published queer authors that you won’t find in general bookstores. 

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We flip the script on the traditional prioritization of the publishing industry by further prioritizing the works and stories of Black queers—especially Black transgender women—Indigenous queers, and other queers of color, disabled queers, fat queers, two-spirit people, intersex people, asexual and aromantic people, incarcerated queer people, queer sex workers, and other identities within the queer community that experience further marginalization, even within the queer community. As Sylvia Rivera said, there’s no pride for some of us without liberation for all of us. 

 

Authors do not need to be out as LGBTQ+ in order to have their books in the store. If the book has queer characters or discusses issues through a queer lens, that content is welcome in the store—whether or not the author is queer or out as queer. 

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We also carry books specifically for cisgender/heterosexual people—like Alyssa Giannini’s zine How to Support Your Non-Binary Family Member and Being a Super Trans Ally! by Phoenix Schneider—so you can send your straight friends here for education instead of using up your energy to do it yourself!

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About the Rest of It

All of the other items in the store, including candles, teas, stickers, pins, tote bags, bookmarks, mugs, and jewelry, are made by small queer-owned businesses and queer artists and makers. 

 

About the Space

A bookstore can be a place of refuge, a place of validation and celebration for the queer youth and queer adults in Salt Lake City. We deserve to have our stories told, shared, celebrated, validated, loved. And that is exactly what Under the Umbrella does.

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Under the Umbrella is meant to help bridge the gap between what Salt Lake City currently has and what the city needs by providing a safe, accessible, and inclusive space for everyone. Utah is predominantly white, which means there are even fewer places where the safety and comfort of queer people of color are prioritized. The owner of Under the Umbrella is white, so we recognize that there are limits to how comfortable we can make a space for people of color, but we want to make it clear up front to other white people that this space will prioritize the safety, accessibility, and comfort of people of color over white comfort.

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Beyond the books, the space includes resources for connecting with other queer community members. We have a little free library that people can donate to or take a book from, a gender-affirming closet, space and resources to write a note of support to an incarcerated queer person, drag queen and drag king story hours, open mic nights, queer tarot readings, book clubs, and more. For news about the bookstore click here. 

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