Hares & Hyenas

About this place Hares & Hyenas

Hares & Hyenas on Johnston Street, Fitzroy, is one of Australia's most significant LGBTQ+ cultural institutions — a bookshop, events venue, and community space that has been at the centre of Melbourne's queer intellectual and cultural life since 1993. The shop stocks an extensive range of LGBTQ+ fiction, non-fiction, biography, theory, children's books, and zines; the events programme — author readings, launches, panels, screenings, community gatherings — reflects a genuine commitment to LGBTQ+ cultural production rather than simply retail. Fitzroy is the natural location for Hares & Hyenas: the suburb's arts and creative culture, its history of political engagement, and its street life are consistent with the bookshop's identity. The venue has been a platform for LGBTQ+ writers, thinkers, and artists from Australia and internationally, and has survived the pressures that have closed many comparable shops globally through a combination of community loyalty, programme quality, and genuine cultural necessity. For LGBTQ+ visitors to Melbourne who want to understand the city's queer intellectual culture — who want to see what Melbourne's queer scene looks like beyond the dance floors — Hares & Hyenas is essential.