The last weekend in August in London sees the 2nd edition of Queer Minds a series of informative and thought-provoking conversations on issues affecting the lives of the LGBTQ+ community. They seek to connect audiences to a variety of panelists who hold a diverse range of specialisms and lived experiences.
After a fantastic launch last year, they’re back! Go and join them in the heart of Soho, where they’ll be discussing history, politics, and literature.
They will be presenting four sessions during the afternoon, offering the chance to hear about the hidden queer history in myths and folklore, gain insight on queer lives around the globe, understand the realities of accessing trans healthcare in the UK, and celebrate black, queer identities.
Events include: :
Edward Whelan will be on the panel of Let’s Talk About Trans Healthcare .
Dr Kate M. Graham in conversation with Sacha Coward
Sacha Coward is a researcher, historian and public speaker. He has worked in museums and heritage for fifteen years, running tours focused on LGBTQ+ history for museums, cemeteries, archives and cities all around the world. Sacha’s first book Queer as Folklore is a “celebration of queer history like you’ve never seen it before” which reveals the unsung heroes and villains of storytelling, magic and fantasy.
Dr Kate M. Graham is a Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Westminster, where she is also the co-director of the Queer London Research Forum. Kate is the author of several chapters and articles considering revenge in Early Modern theatre and is co-editor of ‘Sex, Time and Place: Queer Histories of London, c.1850 to the Present’.
Nay Francis in conversation with Dean Atta
Dean Atta is an award-winning author and performance poet. He won the 2012 London Poetry Award and was named as one of the most influential LGBT people by the Independent on Sunday Pink List. He has written two YA novels-in-verse which include The Black Flamingo, which was a top-selling debut of 2020 and was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, CILIP Carnegie Medal, the Jhalak Prize and the YA Book Prize. The Black Flamingo was also awarded the prestigious Stonewall Book Award and the Carnegie Shadowers’ Choice Award 2020. His new book, Person Unlimited is his non-fiction debut.
Nay Francis is a non-binary educator, spoken word artist and socio-economic commentator. They are an active member of the non-binary and black educators’ network. As a director of learning, they oversee the faculty of economics, business, accounting and T Levels in a secondary state school in London.
Finding Home: Queers and Migration
With Gaar Adams
Gaar Adams is the author of Guest Privileges: Queer Lives and Finding Home in the Middle East, deemed “an important and necessary contribution to queer literature”. His reporting from the Middle East and South Asia has been featured in publications including The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, Rolling Stone, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, Slate and VICE. He is a 2020 London Library Emerging Writer, and his writing has been supported by the Society of Authors, Bothy Project and the Penguin/Random House WriteNow Programme. Gaar received his Doctorate of Fine Arts from the University of Glasgow and currently teaches on the MA in Creative Writing at the University of Hull.
