Panel: Queer Representation in Popular Fiction

In the last few years queer narratives have started to emerge at the forefront of commercial fiction. Young Adult author Tanya Byrne will be in conversation with Laura Kay, Tasha Suri and Adam Macqueen to discuss the role of queer narratives and writers hitting the shelves today. Do queer writers have a duty to represent their communities? How can queer literature have mass market appeal? What are publishers doing to support and nurture queer writers? And how are queer joy and queer trauma portrayed? Join us for this dynamic panel of exciting writers to dig deep into queer commercial fiction.

Laura Kay is an author and journalist living in East London. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, Stylist, Diva Magazine, The Bookseller and more. Her first novel The Split was long-listed for the Polari Prize. Her third novel, Wild Things, is out now.

Tasha Suri is the award-winning author of The Books of Ambha duology, The Burning Kingdoms trilogy and What Souls Are Made Of. She has won the Best Newcomer (Sydney J. Bounds) from the British Fantasy Society and the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel. Her debut novel Empire of Sand was named one of the 100 best fantasy books of all time by TIME magazine. When she isn’t writing, Tasha likes to cry over TV shows, buy too many notebooks, and indulge her geeky passion for reading about South Asian history. She lives with her family in a mildly haunted house in London.

Adam Macqueen’s first novel, political thriller Beneath the Streets, the first in a series featuring rent-boy turned amateur detective Tommy Wildeblood, was published by Lightning Books in April 2020. The second Wildeblood book, The Enemy Within, followed in February 2022.  He lives on the South Coast with his husband, painter Michael Tierney.

Tanya Byrne was born in London where she spent forty years before moving to Brighton with her dog Frida. After eight years at BBC Radio, she left to write her debut novel, Heart-Shaped Bruise, which was published by Headline in May 2012 and earned her a nomination for New Writer of the Year at the National Book Awards. Since then, she has written four novels and has contributed to several short story anthologies including A Change is Gonna Come, which was named Sunday Times Children’s Book of the Week. Her latest, Afterlove, is out now. She is currently working with Two Rivers Media to adapt it for television.