#Ellen van Neerven

[lgbtqreads]

New Releases: April 9, 2024

Young Adult Every Time You Hear That Song by Jenna Voris They say to never meet your idols. But they never said anything about upending your life for a quest designed by one. Seventeen-year-old aspiring journalist Darren Purchase has been a lifelong fan of country music legend Decklee Cassel, who’s as famous for her classic hits as she is for her partnership with songwriter Mickenlee Hooper. The…

[qnewsau]

Peter Blazey remembered as namesake fellowship celebrates 20 years

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/peter-blazey-remembered-as-namesake-fellowship-celebrates-20-years/

Peter Blazey remembered as namesake fellowship celebrates 20 years

Family and friends of the late Peter Blazey have paid tribute to the legendary journalist and author as the fellowship named after him celebrates its 20th anniversary.

The $17,000 Peter Blazey Fellowship is awarded annually to writers in the non-fiction fields of biography, autobiography and life writing, to further a work in progress.

Born in Melbourne in 1939, Blazey made significant contributions to several esteemed publications including The Australian, The National Times and OutRage magazine, before his death of HIV/AIDS in 1997.

His career highlights included getting the scoop on the disappearance of former prime minister Harold Holt, as well as a tenure as press secretary to the environment minister in the Whitlam Government.

Blazey, whose literary oeuvre included a political biography of Henry Bolte, the longest-serving Premier of Victoria, was also co-editor (with partner Tim Herbert) of the acclaimed short fiction anthology Love Cries.

Other books included The Secret Diary of Jeffrey Kennett Aged 45 – a political parody of Jeff Kennett’s tenure as Victorian premier – and Blazey’s own memoir Screw Loose, which was published posthumously.

In a statement released this week, Blazey’s brother Clive Blazey AM paid tribute to his sibling while commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Peter Blazey Fellowship, which is administered by the University of Melbourne Faculty of Arts each year.

“Peter Blazey was a larger-than-life figure with a vital interest in politics of all kinds, a hectic energy and a creative curiosity that propelled his many friendships with other writers, artists and troublemakers,” Clive Blazey said.

“We’re pleased that the award has proven a stepping-stone to publishing success and to literary career-making, with a high number of writers going on to win critical acclaim for the books they created through this prize in Peter’s name.”

Peter Blazey has been remembered as a “larger-than-life figure”. Photo: Faculty of Arts – The University of Melbourne.

His comments come in the wake of Ju Bavyka being announced as the 2025 Peter Blazey Fellowship recipient, with the non-binary writer able to use the fellowship to finalise their forthcoming memoir Just a Hand’s Reach Away – Rukoi Podat.

“I am deeply honoured to receive the 2025 Peter Blazey Fellowship,” Bavyka said.

“More than just financial support, the fellowship is a profound acknowledgement of my work, which is important to me.”

Ellen van Neerven, the winner of the 2020 fellowship, encouraged other writers to pursue it.

“First of all, it allowed me to be connected to the special legacy of Peter Blazey and previous recipients. Importantly, it allowed me to dedicate time on my book Personal Score: Sport, Culture, Identity. I encourage any writers with a work-in-progress of non-fiction life-writing to apply,” she said.

Herbert, meanwhile, extolled his partner’s individuality and lauded his contribution to LGBTQI+ rights.

“Peter campaigned to ‘put a poofter in parliament’ and he worked for both the major political parties,” said Herbert, referring to Blazey’s run in a 1978 by-election and his work for both the ALP and Coalition.

“He could never fit into some ideologically sound and tidy space. I’m thrilled about the two decades of ground-breaking books and untidy ideas that this award in his name has nurtured.”

Peter Blazey (left) and partner Tim Herbert. Photo: supplied.

In addition to the Peter Blazey Fellowship, Blazey’s legacy lives on in other ways. In 1978, he played a significant role in the events that led to Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and was a pioneering member of Gay Liberation at a time when homosexuality was illegal. In his later years, he became a prominent HIV/AIDS activist, helping break down prejudice at the height of the pandemic, to the benefit of subsequent cohorts of people living with HIV.

Blazey aptly characterised himself as “belligerent old bugger” – a description that, while humorous, perhaps masks the heartfelt and profound insights he shared throughout his life and the contribution he has made to future generations.

[jofielle]

mango by ellen van neerven (from comfort food)

[ryttu3k]

Trans Rights Readathon signups are up on Storygraph! My planned books:

Transmasc and Trans Man Rep: Andrew Joseph White - Compound Fractures

Transfem and Trans Woman Rep: Anthology - Embodied Exegesis: Transfeminine Cyberpunk Futures

Nonbinary, Agender, Genderqueer, and Other Gender-Expansive Rep: Anna-Marie McLemore - Lakelore

Intersectional Trans+ Rep Outside Your Own Experience: Nghi Vo - The Empress of Salt and Fortune

2Spirit, Indigiqueer and Indigenous Gender Expansive Rep: Ellen van Neerven - Throat

For those planning to take part, here's the official carrd, here are the books I read last year, and here are a list of books by trans authors I love!

For the readathon itself (21-31st March), I'm just aiming for those five categories, many of which will also fall under the bonuses (the first four all fit SFF, haha). However, I am going to aim to complete all 25 bonus categories by the end of the year! Some will take a little more effort (like poetry or memoirs, which I don't usually read), some will be almost everything I read (I like my SFF, and lbr it'd be harder for me to find something by an author not from my country than it would be to find one from it!) but I'll give it a shot!

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

💜 Queer Books for National Poetry Month

🦇 As a poetry writer, reader, and performer, National Poetry Month has a special place in my heart. It's a reminder that many thoughts and emotions are universal; that you're not alone. To acknowledge exactly that, here are a few queer books for National Poetry Month for your TBR!

✨ Broken Halves of a Milky Sun - Aaiún Nin ✨ Throat - Ellen van Neerven ✨ No Credit River - Zoe Whittall ✨ Tranz - Spencer Williams ✨ Return of the Chinese Femme - Dorothy Chan ✨ Couplets - Maggie Millner ✨ Blood - Tyler Pennock ✨ A "Working Life" - Eileen Myles ✨ Pansy - Andrea Gibson

✨ Why I Was Late - Charlie Petch ✨ Nature Poem - Tommy Pico ✨ Halal If You Hear Me - Various ✨ Pier Queen - Emanuel Xavier ✨ Crime Against Nature - Minnie Bruce Pratt ✨ Queer Poets of Color - Various ✨ Space Struck - Paige Lewis ✨ Calamities - Renee Gladman ✨ Love and Other Poems - Alex Dimitrov

✨ Milk Teeth - Rae White ✨ Some Integrity - Padraig Regan ✨ Biography of Red - Anne Carson ✨ I Am the Most Dangerous Thing - Candace Williams ✨ Because You Were Mine - Brionne Janae ✨ Homeland of My Body - Richard Blanco ✨ Gay Poems for Red States - Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr. ✨ Wound from the Mouth of a Wound - Torrin A. Greathouse ✨ Punks - John Keene

✨ On a Grey Thread - Elsa Gidlow ✨ Ode to My First Car - Robin Gow ✨ Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency - Chen Chen ✨ My Dear Comrades - Sunu P. Chandy ✨ The Wild Hunt Divinations - Trevor Ketner ✨ Queer - Andrea G. Hardeman ✨ A Film in Which I Play Everyone - Mary Jo Bang ✨ Beautiful Malady - Ennis Rook Bashe ✨ Alive at the End of the World - Saeed Jones

✨ Hard Drive - Paul Stephenson ✨ Then the War - Carl Phillips ✨ Negative Money - Lillian-Yvonne Bertram ✨ Freedom House - KB Brookins ✨ The Magic Border - Arlo Parks ✨ A Brilliant Loss - Eloise Klein Healy ✨ Butcher - Natasha T. Miller ✨ Out Here - Various ✨ Beast at Every Threshold - Natalie Wee

✨ Good Grief, the Ground - Margaret Ray ✨ Ephemera - Sierra DeMulder ✨ More Sure - A. Light Zachary ✨ Pillow Thoughts - Courtney Peppernell ✨ Toska - A. Pleskova ✨ Disintegrate/Dissociate - Arielle Twist ✨ Trace Evidence - Charif Shanahan ✨ God Themselves - Jae Nichelle ✨ To the Boy Who Was Night - Rigoberto González

[garadinervi]

Their Borders, Our World. Building New Solidarities with Palestine, Edited by Mahdi Sabbagh, Palestine Festival of Literature, Haymarket Books, Chicago, IL, 2024

Contributors include: Yasmin El-Rifae, Jehan Bseiso, Keller Easterling, Dina Omar, Tareq Baconi, Samia Henni, Omer Shah, Kareem Rabie, Ellen Van Neerven, Omar Robert Hamilton, and Mabel O. Wilson

Cover and Interior Artwork: Bráulio Amado Cover and Interior Design: Tala Safié

[thebisexualwreckoning]

Mind analysing your poem a little? 👀

Incredibly long post alert to anyone who plans on reading this

Obligatory transphobes and terfs dni. The following poem is about and written by ‘them gotdamn trannys and queers’ and is about beautiful beautiful t4t sex

i am kissing you. on the mouth.

thank you so much for sending this in i genuinely love talking about my poetry so much muah muah muah!!!

Original poem if anyone wants to read it:

Anyway.

Welcome to Prof A. 's line by line analysis of his poem*. So buckle your seatbelts because this is gonna be loooong ride. Let's get started!

*Disclaimer: you might interpret some of these lines differently then i do and that is perfectly alright. poetry depends on everyone's own lived experience and that does not make any one interpretation less valid. i might have written the poem, but your interpretations are still just as true.

I'm going to start with inspirations and the title first because i love providing backstory and talking about other poets. Very specifically one poet that inspired me to write this actually. You can skip this part if you just want to know about the technical structures and literary devices and specific meanings behind the poem

The title was originally part of a completely different short story/prose poetry  (i hadn't made up my mind yet) thing i was going to write but then never got around to finishing. but i just so happened to be going through my old writing (always keep a handy little notebook on hand. it has saved my life so many times) and find the little snippet i wrote and go, 'wait i actually like this very much' and decide to reuse it for something else.

but anyway, couple hours later im doing a voice of country thing for my literature class and analysing poetry by indigenous and aboriginal Australian poets. and i come across this little poem called 'a portrait of a genderkweer on fire'  by a certain Ellen van Neerven (who belongs to the Mununjali Yugambeh people of south east Queensland btw) (go check out their poetry it is genuinely life changing) and it sticks with me you know. it really does. poc trans people writing about their lived experiences as poetry? why didn't I, a poc trans person, think about that!

(no seriously, in all my years of writing poetry it for some reason never occured to me to write about my people. so genuinely thank you Ellen for that!)

now i've already got a first line ive been wanting to use, i am feeling extremely queer and angry because of unrelated transphobia a friend faced and i have a mechanical pencil and notebook in hand.

So i start writing.

(Apologies for my awful handwriting. i was writing while pacing and waiting for the bus)

Alright, kiddies. As you can see, most of the poem was taken verbatim with very few changes to the actual word choices behind the poem. (I will be doing a deep dive into the language as well, dont you worry)

The biggest change made actually is the switch from prose poetry to a more traditional stanza poem. i made the decision to do this actually because originally the poem was meant to be much longer and incorporate the original piece i decided to rework this into.

The quote 'sometimes i imagine what heaven is like' was meant to be repeated at the start of different stanzas which would be written in prose form, each detailing a different phase of queer love in secret, from secret night time affairs (this specific poem) to escape and loving loudly (the original thing i wrote). however, it didn't really work the way i wanted it too and i decided this was fine as it was and started to edit and play around with it a bit.

i changed 'sometime i imagine what heaven is like' to 'Do you imagine what heaven looks like?' and made it the title of the poem instead of the first sentence. the poem itself now becomes the narrator's idealised image of what heaven would be like for them. i go a bit more on depth about this in point 3 of Changes to the structure

Changes to the structure

As mentioned, the first change was from prose to stanzas. I'm about to get full on literature student about this so bear with me

Each stanza has one (1) extra line from the previous one in the poem. For ex: stanza 1 has 4 lines, stanza 2 has 5 lines, and stanza 3 has 6 lines. this was a deliberate choice i made. not to be too english teacher about this but it shows the narrator is coming to some sort of a revelation soon. (i wont spoil too much about this tho. for reasons)

ENJAMBMENTS!!! if you don't know what an enjambment is, it refers to a line break that interrupts the flow of a sentence: usually the line usually doesn’t end with punctuation, and the thought continues on the next line. now, i heavily fuck with enjambments in poetry. which is why i was so eager to use them over here. they represent a kind of stream of consciences here rather than structured thought. enjamments also help in rising tension and drawing the reader in deeper, making them want to continue reading to find out what happens next.

syntax: now the poem is actually meant to be wish fulfilment of sorts for the narrator, where they imagine all the things they wish they could do with their lover. that's why its not written in present tense using sentences like 'the moon shines' or 'the bedsheet are sweaty...'. The narrator is basically telling the moon to shine through his windows and the bedsheets to be stained and his lover to run a finger down his spine. we don't actually have anything written in present tense till 'She holds me close...'

the random spaced out/missing words a.k.a SYNTAX 2.0! because yes. there are certain words missing. ive intentionally left a space between 'left' and 'tramp' and between 'Boy' and 'fuchsia'. there is also a missing word before 'count'. now, if you read my original version of the poem, you can find out what words are actually supposed to be there, but when i put it into verse form, i found that many of the words id written in prose didnt actually fit. but without them the sentence kind of fell apart. so i decided to leave blank space where those words were supposed to go to signal to the reader that something is missing while not actually needing to mention that

4.5. just like the stanzas growing by a single line in each verse, the missing words also increase in a frequency of one (1), zero of them in stanza 1, a single missing word in stanza 2 and 2 of them in stanza 3.

5. capitalisations and Punctuations to immerse the reader more and help with the stream of consciousness style of the poem, most of the poem is written in lowercase with no punctuation being used throughout the only things capitalised are 'Factory Made Cunt', '... Boy' and 'She holds me...' you may have noticed a common string between these words is they are all related to gender. 'Factory Made Cunt' especially was written to put emphasis on the inherent transness of the character while '... Boy' was capitalised for this and to have more of a visual distinction from the black space that follow. 'She hold me...' however was written to directly contrast the lowercase 'god' and how to the narrator their lover is the divine being instead of any so called god (which is weird because i personally am a religious person).

Language choices and line by line analysis:

'moon shine through the' - moon shine over here is meant to show how queer people often can only exist in the freedom on night time and their love is often only seen within the secrecy of moonlight and not under the brightness of the sun. (also all moon deities are queer icons).

A friend of mine also provided the connection to 'moon shine' being a reference to illegal moonshine (home brewed extremely strong alcohol) and how that itself was a reference to illegally transtioning without the goverment knowing/able to get medical stuff

'window illuminating short bristles of': the narrators lover being a trans girl with a buzz cut was an intentional choice to show that gender expression does not equal actual gender. buzz cuts are traditonally associated with men, but also many butches in the community rock a buzz cut as well and its too show that there's no right way of being trans and presenting as a woman.

'her hair tickling' and 'the underside of my nose': im going at these two together since i don't really have much to say about them separately. it's more meant to be visual imagery, reinforcing the two are intimate in some manner but not really expanding whether it's platonic or romantic yet. its also meant to evoke the image of the narrators lover lying on their chest and but the narrator not caring about the fact that they might be slightly uncomfortable but loves their girl too much to push them away

'bedsheet sweaty and cum': confirming the fact that they are in a sexually intimate relationship and are lying post-coital (i cannot believe i just used the term coital. this has become an academic essay)

'stained entangle around the curve of' - some sensual imagery and tactile imagery

'her thigh where my' - more imagery

'lipstick left        tramps stamps on her' - tramp stamp is a reference to how trans women are often oversexualised and is meant to be a reclamation of their own bodies and sexualities

'Factory Made Cunt' - emphasis is placed on these words by being the first capitalised words in the entire poem as of yet. its meant to kind of condemn the never ending discussion about trans women's bodies and especially their genitals and the hyper sexualization of girlcock by fetishisers (not that there is anything wrong with girlcock. this user loves girlcock and boypussy). its kinda like the narrator is saying 'so what if her pussy is surgically made. how does that make it any lesser)

'           count down the' - once again, not really much to say

'knobs of my spine leaving behind a shivering' - more more sensual imagery

'mess of a Boy    fuchsia bright silicone' - just like how 'Factory Made Cunt' condemned speculation on trans women's bodies, this condemns speculations on those of trans men. it also challenges the assumption that just because you are a man or that you top, you immediately have to be the dominant one in the relationship. 'fuchsia bright' was also a deliberate syntax choice. the silicone is the bright thing here not the fuchsia giving the narrator the chance to have a dick which is bright/illuminated moment for them as a trans boy.

'dick still hard whispering lover' - the 'dick still hard' part was meant to be an ironic comment on how cishetero patriarchal society is always going about people in sapphic relationships using dildos and saying that they should just fuck a real man instead of a fake approximation of one (not that they are that eloquent) but the joke is that while those criticising sapphics who use dildos actually need to wait for a dick to get hard again before they can have sex while the sapphics don't have to worry about that since dildos are always hard. also the 'whispering lover' thing was written completely out of spite to prove the friend with the moonshine interpretation wrong when she said that lover cannot be an appropriate term of endearment and to her credit she has since changed her mind and has been very gracious about it and glad to be immortalised in a poem in this form

'in my ear She holds me close' - more more more sensuous imagery along with auditory imagery of whispering in ears.

'leaving behind no space for god' - a play on the popular phrase 'leave some space for Jesus'

Anyway, this turned out way to big and way to detailed for a simple little analysis but once again, i am a student of literature and this is quite literally my life's passion, made even easier since i have direct access to the writer's brain instead of having to make my own assumptions and spend hours researching.

I hope you enjoy if you or anyone else even bothers to read through considering just how much i actually wrote. but yeah, here's my final literary analysis of my poem Do you imagine what heaven looks like?

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

🦘 Booklr Reads Australian - Authors on My Shelves 🐨

so, I’ve been trying to think of a way to recommend a lot of Australian authors really quickly for Booklr Reads Australian. what I came up with was just to give y’all a giant list of all the authors I have at home! 

most of them are YA and/or fantasy authors, and I’ve marked my favourites with an asterisk (*) but if you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an ask 😊

1. Sarah Ayoub 2. Eugen Bacon 3. Shirley Barber * 4. AJ Betts 5. Danielle Binks * 6. Cally Black 7. Steph Bowe * 8. Alice Boyle 9. JC Burke 10. Meg Caddy * 11. Frances Chapman 12. Wai Chim * 13. Claire Christian 14. Lyndall Clipstone 15. Claire G Coleman 16. Katherine Collette 17. Harry Cook 18. Cath Crowley 19. Robyn Dennison 20. Cale Dietrich 21. Lauren Draper 22. CG Drews * 23. Michael Earp 24. Kate Emery 25. Sarah Epstein 26. Alison Evans * 27. Fleur Ferris 28. Carly Findlay 29. Helena Fox 30. Lisa Fuller 31. Emily Gale 32. Meg Gatland-Veness 33. Sophie Gonzales 34. Erin Gough * 35. Leanne Hall * 36. Pip Harry 37. Sonya Hartnett 38. Adam Hills 39. Simmone Howell 40. Megan Jacobson 41. Amie Kaufman 42. Melissa Keil 43. Nina Kenwood 44. Sharon Kernot 45. Kay Kerr * 46. Will Kostakis 47. Jay Kristoff 48. Ambelin Kwaymullina 49. Benjamin Law 50. Rebecca Lim 51. Gary Lonesborough * 52. Kathleen Loughnan 53. Miranda Luby 54. Tobias Madden 55. Melina Marchetta 56. Ellie Marney * 57. Freya Marske 58. Jodi McAlister * 59. Margot McGovern * 60. Nikki McWatters 61. Anna Morgan 62. Jaclyn Moriarty 63. Liane Moriarty 64. Garth Nix 65. Lynette Noni 66. Carly Nugent 67. Poppy Nwosu 68. Kate O’Donnell 69. Shivaun Plozza 70. Michael Pryor 71. Alice Pung 72. Emily Rodda * 73. Autumn Royal 74. Omar Sakr 75. Holden Sheppard 76. AG Slatter 77. Jo Spurrier 78. Krystal Sutherland * 79. Jared Thomas 80. Hayli Thompson 81. Gabrielle Tozer 82. Christos Tsiolkas 83. Alicia Tuckerman 84. Ellen van Neerven 85. Marlee Jane Ward 86. Vikki Wakefield 87. Lisa Walker 88. Jessica Watson * 89. Allayne L Webster 90. Anna Whateley * 91. Samantha Wheeler 92. Jen Wilde * 93. Rhiannon Wilde 94. Lili WIlkinson 95. Gabrielle Williams 96. Rhiannon Williams 97. Fiona Wood 98. Leanne Yong 99. Suzy Zail 100. Nevo Zisin 101. Markus Zusak

[potato-jem]

frieeeeend! hv u read heat and light by ellen van neerven?

I HAVE!!!

i quite enjoyed it! i love reading texts from first nation peoples

[maoist-mizer]

Ellen van Neerven you will always be famous to me

[dhdiasservices]

Ellen van Neerven - Personal Score Sport, culture, identity

[trinityysantos]

just want to come back and say i read a 2023 release: personal score by ellen van neerven. it's a fascinating exploration of sport, culture and identity by a first nations queer person and told through memoir, essays and poems. it was absolutely phenomenal and i highly highly recommend!!!

I’m sooo late but 10, 12, and 20 for the book asks ?

10. What was your favorite new release of the year?

i didn't read a single 2023 book 😭😭 i am a bit embarrassed about this and have decided to add reading new releases as a goal for next year

12. Any books that disappointed you?

we hunt the flame by hafsah faizal started out really strong but then fell apart for me sadly - had too many unsatisfying and unnecessary reveals towards the end. also the pacing was no good at all

speaking of bad pacing, i dnf'd daughter of the moon goddess because it was just too damn fast

20. What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations?

so my most anticipated release was he who drowned the sun but i obviously haven't read that lmao however i am expecting it to be incredible

[qnewsau]

This twist on Kylie Minogue's iconic songs will have you Spinning Around

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/this-twist-on-kylie-minogues-iconic-songs-will-have-you-spinning-around/

This twist on Kylie Minogue's iconic songs will have you Spinning Around

Kylie Minogue’s iconic playlist has inspired 24 writers in a new anthology that’ll have you spinning around.

For many Australian gay fans, Kylie Minogue’s music has been a part of their lives since she sang Locomotion.

While others found their love for her years later with her DISCO release during Covid.

She’s released 17 studio albums, 9 live albums, 13 compilation albums and more. Kylie is recognised as the highest-selling Australian recording artist of all time.

And now that amazing discography has become the musical muse for a creative new anthology.

Spinning Around: The Kylie Songlist sees twenty-four writers take inspiration from Kylie’s classics and not-so-well-known songs.

A third of the writers identify as LGBTQ+, using a Kylie song as the springboard for a new, original piece of work.

Similar publications featured iconic musicians Nick Cave and Paul Kelly. But co-editor Angela Savage agreed it was time to highlight a woman in Australian music.

Who better than Kylie?

‘I was determined to find one straight male contributor’

“Kylie is one of those artists where everyone has songs that speak to them,” Angela said.

“I realised quickly I offended some writers because I didn’t ask them to be involved.”

Angela laughed, “One writer even joked that I was being homophobic for not asking him.”

Well, they should be so lucky!

“Kylie’s music speaks to people in a lot of different ways,” she said.

“She truly is a stratospheric star, yet many have very down-to-earth experiences connected to her earlier releases.

“I was just chatting to Christos Tsiolkas about it and as soon as I mentioned Kylie he asked to be a part of it. And like I would ever say no to Christos.”

Spinning Around: The Kylie Songlist covers genres of crime, memoir, poetry and science fiction.

These writers explore the music from Kylie’s 1987 release I Should Be So Lucky to her newest album Tension.

Alice Pung’s inspiration is Put Yourself in My Place a cover singer’s face-off for the honour of headlining at the new restaurant.

Dmetri Kakmi looks at how Slow and its fashions influenced his life and career. Other queer writers include Holden Sheppard, Jes Layton and Ellen van Neerven.

“Every single Asian Australian female writer I reached out to just said yes straight away,” Angela said.

“I think a lot of them had memories of Saturday morning music videos from the old days.

“I was determined to find one straight man in Australia to contribute to the anthology.

“Several of them said no, and then I found Chris Flynn, who is a massive Kylie fan. We ended up finding two.”

Authors Christos Tsiolkas, Jess Layton, Demetri Hackney and Miriam Szwed appearing at Queering Kylie

Kylie Minogue is ‘gay shorthand for joy’

Angela penned an 80s story in the anthology inspired by her favourite Kylie Minogue song I Should Be So Lucky.

But reading the books of other authors’ works inspired new meaning for Kylie’s music for Angela.

“Look, before we started this project, it’s fair to say that I liked Kylie, especially her dance tracks,” she said.

“But I have come out of it a massive fan. My view of her has grown.

“Rufus Wainwright called her the gay shorthand of joy and he was so right.”

This Wednesday, Hares and Hyenas are hosting an event celebrating the book’s release at the Victorian Pride Centre.

Queering Kylie includes Kylie Minogue tunes spun by DJ Gavin Campbell. Queer writers Christos Tsiolkas, Jess Layton, Demetri Hackney and Miriam Szwed will share some of their readings.

“I’m hoping we’ll either have a sing-along or a dance mob, it is Kylie after all,” Angela laughed.

“Kylie’s music repertoire is the mother of reinvention. And I’m excited for people to read the scope of the stories in the anthology.

“And I’m excited to share that with everyone who comes to the Pride Centre on Wednesday night.”

Get your tickets to Queering Kylie, celebrating the launch of Spinning Around: The Kylie Songlist here.

For the latest LGBTIQA+ Sister Girl and Brother Boy news, entertainment, community stories in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Check out our latest magazines or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

[widelovelyeyes]

Domestic love

Nina LaCour, Everything Leads to You/Talking Heads, This must be the place/Ellen van Neerven, Comfort Food/Unknown

[ryttu3k]

Happy Trans Day of Visibility! And we are done for the Trans Rights Readathon! For 2025, I read:

Andrew Joseph White - Compound Fracture

Ellen van Neerven - Throat

Anthology - Embodied Exegesis

Nghi Vo - The Empress of Salt and Fortune

Anna-Marie McLemore - Lakelore

Shou Arai - At 30, I Realized I Had No Gender

Polenth Blake - Everyday Aliens

K O'Neill - The Tea Dragon Society

Akwaeke Emezi - Pet

Talli L Morgan - Meliora

(All links go to my reviews.)

That's ten entries, raising $100 for the Gender Centre and $100 for Project 491!

For 2025, I filled all five of the main challenge prompts, and twenty of the twenty-five bonus prompts. Still remaining: Southwest Asian Author or of the Diaspora, Hawaiian or Pacific Islander Author or from the Diaspora, History, General Nonfiction, and General/Literary Fiction (which I would love recs for!).

Check below the cut for challenge prompts, and for future fills!

Challenge Prompts

Transmasc and Trans Man Rep: Andrew Joseph White - Compound Fracture, Talli L Morgan - Meliora

Transfemme and Trans Woman Rep: Anthology - Embodied Exegesis, Akwaeke Emezi - Pet

Nonbinary, Agender, Genderqueer, and Other Gender Expansive Rep: Ellen van Neerven - Throat, Nghi Vo - The Empress of Salt and Fortune, Anna-Marie McLemore - Lakelore, Shou Arai - At 30, I Realized I Had No Gender, Polenth Blake - Everyday Aliens, K O'Neill - The Tea Dragon Society, Akwaeke Emezi - Pet, Talli L Morgan - Meliora (I know, I know XD;;)

Intersectional Trans+ Rep Outside Your Own Experience: Ellen van Neerven - Throat, Nghi Vo - The Empress of Salt and Fortune, Anna-Marie McLemore - Lakelore, Shou Arai - At 30, I Realized I Had No Gender, Akwaeke Emezi - Pet

2Spirit, Indigiqueer and Indigenous Gender Expansive Rep: Ellen van Neerven - Throat

Bonus Prompts

African Author or of the Black Diaspora: Akwaeke Emezi - Pet

Indigenous Author: Ellen van Neerven - Throat

Asian Author or of the Diaspora: Nghi Vo - The Empress of Salt and Fortune, Shou Arai - At 30, I Realized I Had No Gender

Latine/Latinx Author or of the Diaspora: Anna-Marie McLemore - Lakelore

Biracial or Multiracial Author: Ellen van Neerven - Throat, Akwaeke Emezi - Pet

A Book with Disability Representation: Andrew Joseph White - Compound Fracture (autistic), Anna-Marie McLemore - Lakelore (ADHD, dyslexia), Akwaeke Emezi - Pet (selective mutism), Talli L Morgan - Meliora (anxiety)

A Book by an Author From a Country Other Than Your Own: *laughs in Australian* Literally all of them except Ellen van Neerven's Throat?

Trans Joy: Talli L Morgan - Meliora

Indie or Self-Published: Ellen van Neerven - Throat, Anthology - Embodied Exegesis, Polenth Blake - Everyday Aliens, K O'Neill - The Tea Dragon Society, Talli L Morgan - Meliora

T4T, or Trans for Trans Romance: Anna-Marie McLemore - Lakelore, Talli L Morgan - Meliora

Neo Pronoun Representation: Polenth Blake - Everyday Aliens

Memoir/Biography: Shou Arai - At 30, I Realized I Had No Gender

Poetry: Ellen van Neerven - Throat

Picture Book/Middle Grade: K O'Neill - The Tea Dragon Society

Young Adult: Andrew Joseph White - Compound Fracture, Anna-Marie McLemore - Lakelore, Akwaeke Emezi - Pet

Graphic Novel, Comics, and Manga: Shou Arai - At 30, I Realized I Had No Gender, K O'Neill - The Tea Dragon Society

Fantasy or Sci-fi: Anthology - Embodied Exegesis, Nghi Vo - The Empress of Salt and Fortune, Anna-Marie McLemore - Lakelore, Polenth Blake - Everyday Aliens, K O'Neill - The Tea Dragon Society, Akwaeke Emezi - Pet, Talli L Morgan - Meliora don't judge me

Horror/Thriller: Andrew Joseph White - Compound Fracture

Romance: Talli L Morgan - Meliora

A 2025 Release: Polenth Blake - Everyday Aliens

What's next?

Next up, the last few fills! For most of these, I already have a candidate or two in mind, one of which I already own, most of which I don't.

Southwest Asian Author or of the Diaspora: SB Divya - Meru (not owned)

Hawaiian or Pacific Islander Author or from the Diaspora: Makana Yamamoto - Hammajang Luck (owned), Sascha Stronach - The Dawnhounds (not owned)

History: Nothing actually on my TBR! I'd love to find something specifically about trans history in Australia

General Nonfiction: Jamie Raines - The T in LGBT (not owned, although I do follow him on Youtube!)

General/Literary Fiction: Yeah I got nothing lmao. See above for a link to my rec request post!

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

💜 Queer Books for National Poetry Month

🦇 As a poetry writer (@mywordsarewings), reader, and performer, National Poetry Month has a special place in my heart. It's a reminder that many thoughts and emotions are universal; that you're not alone. To acknowledge exactly that, here are a few queer books for National Poetry Month for your TBR!

✨ Broken Halves of a Milky Sun - Aaiún Nin ✨ Throat - Ellen van Neerven ✨ No Credit River - Zoe Whittall ✨ Tranz - Spencer Williams ✨ Return of the Chinese Femme - Dorothy Chan ✨ Couplets - Maggie Millner ✨ Blood - Tyler Pennock ✨ A "Working Life" - Eileen Myles ✨ Pansy - Andrea Gibson

✨ Why I Was Late - Charlie Petch ✨ Nature Poem - Tommy Pico ✨ Halal If You Hear Me - Various ✨ Pier Queen - Emanuel Xavier ✨ Crime Against Nature - Minnie Bruce Pratt ✨ Queer Poets of Color - Various ✨ Space Struck - Paige Lewis ✨ Calamities - Renee Gladman ✨ Love and Other Poems - Alex Dimitrov

✨ Milk Teeth - Rae White ✨ Some Integrity - Padraig Regan ✨ Biography of Red - Anne Carson ✨ I Am the Most Dangerous Thing - Candace Williams ✨ Because You Were Mine - Brionne Janae ✨ Homeland of My Body - Richard Blanco ✨ Gay Poems for Red States - Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr. ✨ Wound from the Mouth of a Wound - Torrin A. Greathouse ✨ Punks - John Keene

✨ On a Grey Thread - Elsa Gidlow ✨ Ode to My First Car - Robin Gow ✨ Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency - Chen Chen ✨ My Dear Comrades - Sunu P. Chandy ✨ The Wild Hunt Divinations - Trevor Ketner ✨ Queer - Andrea G. Hardeman ✨ A Film in Which I Play Everyone - Mary Jo Bang ✨ Beautiful Malady - Ennis Rook Bashe ✨ Alive at the End of the World - Saeed Jones

✨ Hard Drive - Paul Stephenson ✨ Then the War - Carl Phillips ✨ Negative Money - Lillian-Yvonne Bertram ✨ Freedom House - KB Brookins ✨ The Magic Border - Arlo Parks ✨ A Brilliant Loss - Eloise Klein Healy ✨ Butcher - Natasha T. Miller ✨ Out Here - Various ✨ Beast at Every Threshold - Natalie Wee

✨ Good Grief, the Ground - Margaret Ray ✨ Ephemera - Sierra DeMulder ✨ More Sure - A. Light Zachary ✨ Pillow Thoughts - Courtney Peppernell ✨ Toska - A. Pleskova ✨ Disintegrate/Dissociate - Arielle Twist ✨ Trace Evidence - Charif Shanahan ✨ God Themselves - Jae Nichelle ✨ To the Boy Who Was Night - Rigoberto González