Relatively Queer: Writing Toward Concealed Queerness in the Family Archive

Do you have ancestors who you know or suspect to be queer? Or do you wonder if you’re the first queer person in your family tree but still yearn for a deeper connection to a personal queer past? Do you worry about the damage you might do to yourself or others if you write into these sensitive histories?

In this workshop, we’ll explore these questions together ethically and with heart, using speculative prompts, traditional and unconventional research techniques, and trauma-informed reflective tools developed in our work with the Relatively Queer project. For writers of all experience levels and any genre!

Dr Lloyd Meadhbh Houston (They/She) is a trans-femme, neurodivergent academic, writer, and performer from the north of Ireland, based at King’s College, London. She is the author of Irish Modernism and the Politics of Sexual Health (OUP, 2023) and a range of articles and chapters on the medicalization of sex, (neuro)queer and trans history and culture, and the history of erotica and obscenity. Beyond academia, they co-host the podcast Censored, occasionally write about video games for Eurogamer, and recently collaborated with the trans theatre collective piss / CARNATION on their forthcoming production, Orlando: A Pornobiography.

K Angel (They/Them) is an autistic, kinky, trans/non-binary writer, performer, and researcher from the American Midwest, whose work plays with myth, consent, chosen community, and metamorphosis interruptus. Recent projects include The Road Again, a post-apocalyptic drag musical seeking trans kin in the myths and archives of Texas cowboy culture, Clusterfluff, an immersive circus revue of the UK’s queer nightlife history, and the poetry collection Another Double Text, forthcoming from kith books. They co-founded and co-host the playwriting group Fresh Lines Writers, facilitate writing workshops for Beyond the Spectrum, and serve as a Heritage Trustee for Queer Heritage South and Marlborough Productions.

Important: Festival or day passes do not include access to this event. To attend the workshop, you must book a separate ticket using the link below.