Queerstories

Mama Alto is a cabaret artiste, jazz singer and trans non-binary femme who tells two interwoven stories about gender and generations. Mama Alto is a gender transcendent diva, cabaret artiste, jazz singer and community activist based in Melbourne. She is a non-binary trans femme person of colour who works with the radical potential of storytelling, strength in softness and power in vulnerability.&n...

Eloise Brook tells us the safest space growing up Trans in the 80s in Australia was music - a place to listen, a place to imagine and a place to dream. Eloise is a researcher at the Sexualities and Gender Research network , Western Sydney University as well as the secretary of the board of Directors at the Gender Centre. Queerstories is an LGBTQIA+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, w...

Helen Razer impales herself on the white picket fence of diminished queer ambition. Helen is an opinion and arts writer perhaps best known for her years spent hosting breakfast on triple j, quite possibly the first female breakfast announcer on Australian FM radio and certainly the crankiest. Helen has published a bunch of books and writes a bunch o' publications about politics, the arts and pop c...

Rhys Nicholson tells tales from his youth in Newcastle. Rhys has performed all over the world, garnering audience and critical praise for being both funny and a snappy dresser. In 2016, he was nominated for best show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival . Zoe Coombs Marr won and in the meantime Zoe and Rhys wed at the Festival Club with their very gay partners acting as Best Man and Maid...

Allan Clarke tells us a coming of age story with a twist. An eye opening tale of what it's really like to grow up gay and Koori in the outback. Allan is the presenter of The Point on NITV . He is also their investigative reporter and was formerly the Indigenous Affairs reporter for BuzzFeed News and ABC News' Western Sydney reporter and a senior reporter for SBS television...

Jen Cloher tells us about Adelaide in the 1980's. This was not a place where you discovered gender as "a journey rather than a destination". It was a place you survived. Jen is an ARIA nominated artist and spent almost a decade as one of the country's best folk leaning singer-songwriters. In 2013, the release of In Blood Memory marked a new era; backed by an all time trio of Courtney Barnett, Bone...

Stand up Comedian Geraldine Hickey   shares a tale from one of her less welcoming gigs.  Geraldine has been described as a ‘deceptively cheery dame who'll quietly take out your innards.' I can't decide if that is terrifying or hot. Geraldine is a regular on the club and pub circuit around the country and she can be heard each morning on Melbourne Community radio station RRR. Q...

Brendan Maclean reflects on earlier career choices in where he "camped it up" for a pink dollar or two, and the repercussions of an ego based on a false identity. Brendan is a singer/song writer and actor whose credits include  Velvet, Tracks  &  The Great Gatsby.  Queerstories is an LGBTQIA+ storytelling night programmed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events in Sydney, Mel...

Bish Marzook shares stories about her father, his love of language, and what happens when she has to come up with her own definitions. Bish is a writer, comedian, and scientist for good measure. She writes for SBS Comedy, regularly appears on Triple J and FBi radio, and co-runs Wolf Comedy , a Sydney comedy room committed to promoting diversity in comedy. You should definitely check it out. She al...

Annaliese Constable invites you into the dysfunctional hotbed of mental illness that is her relationship with her partner Emily. Annaliese is a writer, performer and queer rights activist working across standup, queer performance and theatre. Renowned for self deprecating and tragic comedic works Annaliese has been a regular contributor to Erotic Fan Fiction , Confession Booth, Story Club and FBi'...

Bastian Fox Phelan explores being diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, the medicalisation of female facial hair, and how a disorder can be turned into a distinction. This story was published in The Lifted Brow (TLB #34) in June 2017. Bastian is a writer, musician and zinemaker living in Newcastle, Australia. Bastian is an MA (Research) candidate at The University of Sydney and is currently...

Jessie Lloyd speaks about her Mission Songs Project , and her research into her history as an Indigenous musician. Originally from the tropics of North Queensland, Jessie Lloyd is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musician who performs a broad collection of Australian Indigenous songs. As an independent solo artist, Jessie released her debut EP ‘ Other Side of the Room ' in 2014....

Dr Alice E Williamson looks back at the months she spent back in her home town in the North West of England just before moving to Sydney.   Alice is a Lecturer in Chemical Education and Outreach at The University of Sydney . Originally from the North West of England , Alice completed her PhD at The University of Cambridge , where she worked with colleagues to develop two new chemical rea...

Paul Van Reyk was told to ‘Go forth and multiply' ...but he did it his way. Paul was born in Sri Lanka in 1952, migrating to Australia with his family in 1962. He came out publicly in 1978, and has spent the subsequent four decades as an activist. He has been a regular media commentator over that time, writing on gay and HIV/AIDS history, racism in the gay community and LGBTQI families, and...

Comedian Rebecca Shaw expresses her pity for the straight women of the world, and devises a plan to help them live better lives. Rebecca (aka @brocklesnitch ) is a writer and creator of popular parody Twitter account @notofeminism , which was developed into an illustrated book with Affirm Press . She is on the writing team at Tonightly with Tom Ballard , and has written for Junkee , The Guardian,...

Patrick Abboud shares an intimate family story he has never told before, exploring what it means to come out in Arab Culture. The son of Palestinian / Lebanese parents, Patrick is an award-winning storyteller, documentary filmmaker and broadcaster. Currently the senior investigative reporter/ presenter on SBS VICELAND's nightly program The Feed , Pat is passionate about uncovering stories you neve...

Demi Lardner shares stories about the fine art of parenting yourself. Beginning stand-up at just 15, Demi has exploded around the country and abroad. Last year she was the breakout star of the 2017 Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala  that saw her sell out her tour, win the Director's Choice Award and Underbelly Edinburgh Fringe Award and record her show as part of ABC TV's...

Kerry Bashford reflects on his life as a Daddy Bear. Kerry Bashford was a frequent contributor to the Sydney Star Observer in the '80s and '90s, went on to edit Campaign Magazine , Pink Ink: an anthology of lesbian and gay writers and Kink, a collection of queer fetish writers. Prominent in the bear and leather communities, Kerry has frequently chronicled their activities and now does LGBTQI+ oral...

Hannah Gadsby discovers a story she wrote when she was young. This story was recorded in March 2017, just as Hannah started touring her critically acclaimed show, Nanette. Winner, Best Comedy Show, Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2017, Helpmann Award for Best Comedy Performer, 2017 and Best Comedy Show, Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2017, Nanette is now a Netflix special that has taken th...

Liz Duck-Chong recounts memories of her life and her story is a real story, but it isn't the whole story. Not yet. Liz Duck-Chong is a writer, sexual health nerd, photographer and musician who almost exclusively wears odd socks. She has had her work featured in the Sydney Morning Herald , Crikey , Meanjin , Kill Your Darlings , ABC Online, SBS Online, Archer Magazine , Junkee, and Overland . ...

Writer Benjamin Law comes out to his grandmother – half a lifetime after he originally came out. Benjamin Law writes books, TV screenplays, columns, essays and feature journalism. He's the author of  The Family Law  (2010), Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East  (2012) and the Quarterly Essay on Safe Schools,  Moral Panic 101  (2017). The Family Law &nb...

Writer, disability educator and activist Jax Jacki Brown speaks to blowjobs, butchness and disability.   Some of this story appeared in the second issue of Butch is not a Dirty Word and an extended version will be featured in the new Queerstories book which can be pre-ordered on Booktopia. Jax Jacki Brown a co-producer of Quippings: Disability Unleashed a disability performance troupe in...