Member Article

NE world-first for the gay community

The world’s first online audio bookshop for the gay community has been launched in Sunderland. Qclassics.com sells audio books voiced by UK film and stage actors.

Qclassics.com was set up by voice-actor Richard Pearce, a British actor who voiced the characters of ‘Dennis the Menace’ (BBC) and ‘Budgie the Helicopter’ (ITV) in the TV animation series, and starred in several episodes of Animated Shakespeare.

To mark the launch, on Valentine’s Day, anyone visiting the website can send an ‘e-card’ to their loved one with a free download of a choice of three poems: Stranger by Walt Whitman, The Call by Rupert Brooke, and Impressions by Oscar Wilde.

Richard Pearce - who has featured in over 500 radio dramas playing parts as diverse as Tintin and Dr Who’s assistant - was introduced to audio books after an accident in 1983 left him partially blinded in one eye. During his time in hospital, audio books provided a welcome escape, and ignited his desire to make gay literature available in talking book form.

Richard said: “High distribution and retail costs have always meant that publishers chose mainstream bestsellers for audio books, and that very little gay literature was available in audio format. I resolved to do something about it as early as 1987 but it’s only in recent years, with the advent of new technologies, that it became possible. “Through Qclassics, we’ve finally been able to bring audio books to the gay community.

“We’re starting small but our aim is to create an archive of fiction and non-fiction that is of interest to our community. The more people buy, the more audio books we’ll make. And although our audio books are aimed at the gay market, we know they’ll appeal to many others too. Good books transcend all boundaries.”

Qclassics.com is a member of Codeworks Connect, a trade association for digital businesses in the North East of England.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .