News article
University of Sussex to host UK's biggest festival of LGBTQ+ literature
Queer Fantastical (re) Imaginings Panel curated by Sussex Students
Suitable for All Ages Panel curated by Sussex Students
The University of Sussex is to host this year’s Coast is Queer - Brighton & Hove’s annual festival of LGBTQ+ writing from 10-13 October 2024, with two recent graduates and a current student supporting as guest curators.
The festival, held at the University’s Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, will include four days of lively conversations, panels, workshops, performances and films celebrating some of the best and brightest LGBTQ+ writers, including Juno Dawson, Roxy Bourdillon, Owen Jones, AFLO. the poet, Tanushka Marah and Saleem Haddad.
This year, as part of the festival’s Student Curator program, three Sussex students, Annie Kelesidou, Annie-Mae Barker and Ari Williams – alongside two students from the University of Brighton – have curated two panels, both taking place on Friday 11th October 2024:
- Queer Fantastical (re)imaginings – On the panel helping to exploring how fantasy imaginings of queerness reflect upon, represent, and subvert the reality of queer lives past and present will be:
- Saara El-Arifi (#1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Faebound Trilogy and The Ending Fire Trilogy)
- Lex Croucher (New York Times, Indie & USA Today bestselling author of Gwen And Art Are Not In Love)
- Dr Jean Menzies (Greek Myths: Meet the Heroes, Gods, and Monsters of Ancient Greece, All the Violet Tiaras: Queering the Greek Myths)
- Suitable for All Ages – the second panel, curated by the students, will explore the explosion of children’s books with queer themes, subsequent backlash and historical precedent. Chaired by young people’s diversity champion and award-winning, radical librarian Zoey Dixon, in conversation with children’s and Young Adult authors Susie Day and Tanya Byrne, this event will discuss the challenges faced by writers, illustrators, and publishers of these stories.
Other panel discussions at the festival include:
- Celebrating 30 years of DIVA Magazine – Telling Our Stories - Then & Now
- Politics and Hope with Leah Cowan, Owen Jones, Amelia Abraham and Sharan Dhaliwal
- Queer Nightlife with Daren Kay & Alf Le Flohic, Dan Glass, and DJ Paulette
Dr. Samuel Solomon, Senior Lecturer in Creative and Critical Writing at the University of Sussex and member of the steering committee for The Coast is Queer, said: “We selected our student curators from a wide pool of applicants, and the three we chose all had deep interests in queer literature and in arts and cultural programming.
“The festival gives them the opportunity to think strategically about what makes a good event for a queer literary festival, they get to bring their enthusiasms and knowledge they have that we, as generally older people, maybe don't have, and they get direct experience of the logistical process of festival programming.
“They also get to attend the festival as honored guests, and the festival is all the better for their involvement.”
Now in its fifth year, The Coast is Queer was the first festival of its kind in the UK, and creates a space for queer readers, writers and allies to come together in a grassroots celebration of the written word and its ability to illuminate and enrich the life of our community. A collaboration between New Writing South and Marlborough Productions, the festival is funded by Arts Council England.
Lauren Church, Producer in Residence at the School of Media, Arts and Humanities, University of Sussex said: “'This is just one of many unique cultural opportunities Sussex students can experience and follows on from our partnership with Brighton Festival and our role as Education Partner for the Turner Prize at Towner Eastbourne, both of which provided unique learning experiences for our students.”
The festival will also host workshops covering a range of topics for budding writers, poets and performers, including Adventures in Queer Print History, a panel featuring members of the newly established University of Sussex Print Group, and followed by a workshop Adventures in Queer Printmaking, giving participants the chance to create their own page of queer magic on the University’s nineteenth century tabletop Albion press. As well as independent films, pop-up history club activities and a closing event combining spoken-word, performance, films, activities and keynotes.
Entertainment includes AFLO the Poet’s Poetry Open Mic event; Sunday Times Number 1 Bestseller Juno Dawson returning with another edition of her Lovely Trans Literary Salon, and David Hoyle Does The Classics Cabaret.