I recently attended ‘Gay Stories‘ at Sydney Pride Festival, an event which brought together three local gay authors into a unique literary evening at the Stonewall Hotel in the heart of Darlinghurst.
Telling and capturing the stories of the LGBTI community is an important task and a significant tool in addressing the ongoing ‘visibility’ issue faced by our community. It is of high importance that our life experiences, feelings and moods are captured and shared with each other and the wider community.
‘Gay Stories’ featured my partner Norman Fox, Kevin Klehr and Nigel Bartlett reading excerpts from their respective books to an appreciative audience, who came out to listen and be entertained despite a cold, rainy winter night in Sydney.
And they were not disappointed. They were treated to a funny yet poignant story by Norman, of a closeted Sydney gay teen’s struggle to find himself. Followed by a riveting crime story by Nigel, of a gay man caught up in a heartbreaking event and a controversial investigation. Topped off by a fabulous fantasy by Kevin, that could only be sorted out by a gay angel.
The LGBTI community is certainly a diverse and fascinating group of people … and the stories we tell attest to that.
One can only hope ‘Gay Stories’ will become a permanent feature of Sydney Pride Festival.
Norman has now released the first snippet of his Sydney Pride live reading from his début novel, ‘Finding ecstasy – the true story of a teenage closet case‘:
The Vue Post 