Queerstories

Consistently baked and severely depressed, Nina Oyama moves to Melbourne to work on a fancy TV show. Nina is a stand up comedian and writer. She has performed at various festivals across Australia, as well as on TV on SBS2's  Stand Up @ Bella Union , C31's  About Tonight, In The Zone 2015  and  Tonightly with Tom Ballard.  Nina also has writing credits for  You'r...

A road trip and love story about going back to country. Tim Bishop is from Albury on the mighty Murray River, known as ‘Indi” to the upper river First Peoples. Raised around open fires and kitchen tables, he is a singer-songwriter, storyteller and radio broadcaster, among other skills. Tim has worked professionally as an actor and voice artist, an arts administrator, a theatre and cost...

A party is usually defined as “a joyous affair, typically involving eating, drinking, and entertainment,” but at this one the entertainment was, well, not what was expected. Garry is a historian, writer, and activist, a former academic at the University of Sydney and a former NSW History Fellow. He has written several books and has been published internationally. A 78er, he was awarded...

Zahra Stardust shares her worst - and most hilarious - stripper fails. Zahra has travelled the world as an award winning striptease artist, pole instructor, porn star and Penthouse Pet. Since realising corporate law was not the best fit for her, she has worked in sexual health and human rights with the United Nations, in policy and leadership positions at ACON , the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby an...

Robyn Kennedy tells her tale of victory over the Sisters of Malevolence. Robyn has worked at senior levels in both the public and not for profit sector working across social and affordable housing, homelessness, Aboriginal housing, disability and health. Robyn is a proud 78er with a long history of involvement in LGBTIQ activism commencing in 1975 when she joined the Executive Committee of CAMP NS...

Patrick Lenton tells us a story in which he tries to throw a cool party for his friends and instead ends up interrogating the concept of masculinity. Patrick is a writer and author living in Sydney, Australia. He is a staff writer at pop-culture and entertainment publication Junkee .  He has a book of short stories called A Man Made Entirely of Bats , which the critics have called ‘odd'...

Peter Mitchell AKA Sister Mary Sit-On-My-Face reveals her adventures with the San Francisco Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence during the 1983 gay and Lesbian Freedom Parade. Peter came into this world in 1957 in metropolitan Sydney and spent his formative years between rural Maitland and industrial Newcastle. Now residing in Lismore in Bundajalung Country, he is the author of the poetry chapbook, Th...

Alex Ward has a taste of what it would be like to be an only child. Turns out it tastes like revenge with more than a hint of defeat.  Alex is a Melbourne based stand-up comedian who has performed around the country, including at Brisbane and Melbourne International Comedy Festivals. Following a successful debut with sold out shows in 2017, Alex is excited to return to Melbourne International...

Kate Rowe reflects on her marriage to a dear friend. Kate worked in medical administration and is a fitness and health fanatic who went to her first Gay Games as a cyclist in New York in 1994. She went on to participate as an athlete, a volunteer and board member for 20 years. She is still is a triathlete hoping to qualify or the World Triathlon Championships in September. Queerstories is an LGBTQ...

Kelly Azizi talks about the shittier side of what makes up 'community'. Kelly is a writer whose field of interest includes the politics of ethno-cultural identity, the diaspora, and non-white feminism. In 2016, she completed her Master of Cultural Studies degree at the University of Sydney. Kelly plays an active role in Sydney's art community, and is an advocate for its cultural diversity and incl...

Emily Wilkinson contemplates the consequences of getting what you wished for. Emily is someone you typically find behind the scenes. An IT sysadmin by day and a theatrical audio tech by night, both careers in which success is defined as no one noticing when she screws up. She writes short stories that she shows to no one, and has a blog with all its posts set to private. She has a fondness for non...

Peter Taggart attempts to satisfy his curiosities in a rural heterosexual wasteland. Peter is a writer and podcaster from Brisbane. He was born on the glittering Gold Coast and raised in St George – a small farming township in southern Queensland.  Peter has written for Junkee, The Guardian, Meanjin and SBS , has hosted shows on 2SER/Star Observer Digital and 4ZzZ and has contributed to...

David Abello shares stories about his dear friend, Paul Young. David was born in the inner-west of Sydney where he still lives. He became involved in the lesbian and gay movement in 1975 and in 1980s was a member of the Gay Liberation Quire and the Gaywaves Gay Radio Collective amongst other things. He's been active in the disability movement since the 1980s and in membership-based organisations c...

In which Ben McLeay contemplates the worst thing that could possibly happen to him: rudeness. Ben is a Brisbane-based writer at Pedestrian.tv and co-host of political comedy podcast Boonta Vista Socialist Club. Ben is featured in the Queerstories book which can be ordered on Booktopia. Queerstories is an LGBTQI+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia....

Deirdre Fidge tells us a story about fluttering and fear. Dee is a writer and social worker whose work has been featured in Archer magazine, Daily Life, SBS, ABC, Crikey and Junkee. Her writings on LGTBQ issues saw her shortlisted for O ut for Australia's Role Model of the Year in 2017. She also authored a chapter in Doing It, an anthology of sex-positive stories written by women available through...

Davey Thompson shares his story of how an awkward, flamboyant gay Aboriginal met his ride-or-die-best-friend. Davey is an Inningai, Bidjara, Wakka Wakka and Gubbi Gubbi man from a small town named Barcaldine in Queensland. As a child, he wished to grow up and become Princess Leia, who taught him to strangle his oppressors with the very chains they put you in. He moved to Brisbane via Bundaber...

Quinn Eades grew up in the Sydney lesbian community during the 70s and 80s, was assigned female at birth. He lived as a dyke for 25 years before becoming a transmasc person at the age of 41. This story is a tracery of his lesbian heritage, and a letter to all the lesbians he's loved before. Quinn Eades is a researcher, writer, and award-winning poet whose work lies at the nexus of feminist, queer...

Tarneen Onus-Williams has always been a scammer, but in 2018 she managed to scam the whole country. Tarneen is a Yigar Gunditjmara, Yorta Yorta, Bindal and Torres Strait Islander woman, passionate about decolonisation, resistance and young black people. Queerstories is an LGBTQI+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For Queerstories event dates, vis...

Karen Therese  tells us a story about women. Part mystery, part documentary, part forensic investigation, Sleeplessness maps a remarkable Australian story. Karen is an interdisciplinary artist, creative producer and cultural leader. In 2010 Karen was awarded the inaugural Cultural Leadership Grant by The Australia Council to investigate innovative curatorial practices across diverse cult...

Author Peter Polites remembers his visits to the Greek and Gay Group - GAGG. Peter Polites is a writer of Greek descent from Western Sydney. As part of the SWEATSHOP writers collective , Peter has written and performed his work all over Australia. Alongside SMH Best Young Novelists Luke Carman and Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Polites wrote and performed THREE JERKS - a spoken word piece about the Cronu...

Vonne Patiag  takes a strange look at the behind the scenes drama during a short film production, involving voodoo shamans and a hate-criming pineapple. Vonne is a Writer and Director working in theatre and film. His most recent short film ‘Window' had its World Premiere at St. Kilda Film Festival 2016 where it won Best Short Film in its category. It's gone on to screen at festivals aro...

Courtnery Thompson tells us a fictional tale of good wine and cheap life choices. Courtney won the ‘Queerstories' prize as part of the Outstanding Short Story Competition. If you haven't heard of Outstanding before, it's an LGBTQI writing competition run by Robert Tait, Gail Hewison of Feminist Bookshop fame, and Teresa Savage, who among many accomplishments, is one of my mothers. So, I sele...

Candy Bowers writes a love letter to her black lesbian hero, Audre Lorde. Candy is an award-winning writer, actor, social activist, comedian and producer. The co-artistic director of Black Honey Company , Candy has pioneered a fierce sub-genre of hip hop theatre that delves into the heart of radical feminist dreaming. Born of multi-racial South African parents and raised in the Western Suburbs of...

Zoe Coombs Marr gets advice. From her parents, her audience, her peers and her dentist. Some of it is good. Some is unusable stories about wafflecones. Zoe is a performer, writer, artist and comedian. She grew up in Grafton, where she and her best friend staged a musical instead of going to schoolies week. Zoe has performed stand up comedy extensively in Australia, the UK and New York. Her latest...

David Marr tells us how the inescapable truth finally dawned on him one day late in 1975.  David has won four Walkley awards for journalism in his 45 year career. He's now at Guardian Australia and is widely regarded as one of Australia's most influential commentators. Queerstories is an LGBTQI+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For Queersto...