Panel: The History Club

Queer history matters. It can give us perspective and confidence that change is possible. Ity can give us courage. But queer history also reminds us that change has not just been a steady march from the bad old days to the better recent ones. It reminds us that those who don’t learn about the past may not be wary enough about what could be coming.

In this panel event, Topher Campbell, co-founder of rukus! Federation, the UK’s first and only archive dedicated to Black LGBTQ artists, will be in conversation with social historian Stephen Bourne and two of our most respected academic historians, Matt Cook and Alison Oram, exploring the challenges and different approaches to uncovering and sharing our vital queer heritage.   And why it matters!

The Coast is Queer is again proud to present this panel in partnership with the Brighton LGBTQI+ History Club and Queer Heritage South whose pioneering work celebrates and promotes the rich cultural life of the LGBTQI+ community in the South East.

Professor Matt Cook is a historian based at Birkbeck, University of London. He works mainly on LGBTQ history and his books include London and the Culture of Homosexuality and Queer Domesticities. Matt is the co-writer of Queer Beyond London.

Alison Oram is Professor Emerita at Leeds Beckett University where she was based before joining the University of London’s Institute of Historical Research as a Senior Research Fellow. She wrote Her Husband was a Woman! and co-edited the landmark Lesbian History Sourcebook. Alison is the co-writer of Queer Beyond London.

Stephen Bourne has been writing history books for over 30 years but he is quick to point out that he is not an ‘academic’ but someone who believes in documenting stories with first hand testimonies. Stephen specialises in Black British history and his most recent book Deep Are the Roots (The History Press, 2022) covers 150 years of Black British theatre. For Deep Are the Roots, Stephen was shortlisted for the Society for Theatre Research Book Prize. Stephen has also written several gay history books including Fighting Proud (Bloomsbury, 2017) about gay men’s lives in the world wars and Playing Gay (The History Press, 2019) which focusses on how gay men were portrayed in British television from the 1930s to the 1980s.

Afro-Queer Artist/Filmmaker Topher Campbell’s output spans film, theatre, performance, writing, and site-specific work. He makes bold and exciting work focusing on sexuality, masculinity, race, human rights, memoir and climate change. Alumni of the Regional Theatre Young Directors Scheme In 2005 he was recipient of the Jerwood Directors Award and nominated for the 2011 What’s On Stage Theatre Event of the Year Award. In 2017 he was longlisted for the inaugural Spread the Word Life Writing Prize for his forthcoming memoir Battyman