Writing from a Place of Queer Joy

Join artist, poet and community activist Tom to share your thoughts on what queer joy looks like, what it means to us and how it’s been used throughout history as art, protest and celebration. Learn to write from a place of joy and resilience rooted in our collective queerness and the experience of anyone who has felt othered or outside the mainstream. All welcome.

This workshop is focused on those with a lived experience of being LGBTQIA+, but everyone is welcome! The workshop begins with a brief and dynamic exploration of the history of queer writers, from the ancient Saphiccs to the underground gay writers of the 19th and 20th century to the present day. Throughout history, artists who have felt othered by their gender or sexuality have created their own rules, breaking boundaries and celebrating their differences through writing and performance.

Our collective task within the workshop is to do the same – to ask ourselves what our own queer joy looks like, how to find it and how to use words and voice to share it. We will achieve this through word association games, free writing tasks, collaborative writing and a final guided writing and editing session.

From 2021, this workshop has been delivered for Palace International Film Festival, Out On The Page, Class Festival, The Garden Learning Space, Lyra Poetry Festival, Bristol University and Libraries Unlimited.

“A spoken word phenomena” – Voice Magazine
“A passion that does them proud” – Tobacco Factory Theatres
“Skillfully disobedient” – Pete The Temp