In 2017, Dalit transgender activist, Grace Banu, started her quest to publish her book, Talks of Grace Banu, but was met with two years of publishing firms' casteist and transphobic denials. She then decided to self-publish it in 2019. In January 2023, she established 'Queer Publishing House' to provide transgender authors the respect and joy they deserve while publishing their work, a fundamental right that was denied to her. The publishing house had its first showing at the 2023 Chennai Book Fair. In an interview with a leading newspaper Banu said, “This has been a long fight to present 50 books by LGBTQIA+ writers at the 46th edition of this book fair. The response by the visitors has been incredible. We have sold more than 7000 copies already.”
Banu, the founder of Trans Rights Now Collective, a Dalit- Bahujan- and Adivasi-centred collective of trans folx, launched Queer Publishing House after many members expressed interest in publishing their writing but did not have access to the available mainstream platforms.
At the book fair, the publishing firm debuted three new volumes of poems by Negha, Ajitha, and Arun Karthik. The actor-turned-trans poet Negha states the following about her book, RIP: "I had composed poetry, but I did not know which platform would publish them.”
Banu further pointed out that publishing houses see transgender people with a certain lens, and there isn’t much space for dignity in that. “The publishing industry is looking for stories of struggles that evoke sympathy. They don’t want stories about the assertion of our rights and expression of our ideas,” she said.