Brighton’s festival of LGBTQ+ literature, The Coast is Queer, is back this October – and it’s bringing some of the brightest voices in queer writing to the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts.
Now in its sixth year, the four-day festival celebrates the power of queer stories with panels, performances, workshops and films. Expect big names, fresh voices and a brand new Queer Heritage Hub at the University of Sussex Library, delving into Brighton’s LGBTQ+ past.
The line-up is as stacked as ever. Writer and filmmaker Topher Campbell kicks things off with a specially commissioned performance lecture, while other headline events include conversations with Juno Dawson and Munroe Bergdorf, Damian Barr, Women’s Prize winner Yael van der Wouden, workshops with Travis Alabanza, and performances from Joelle Taylor.
Across the weekend, you can dip into everything from crime fiction and queer horror to zines, memoir, publishing insider tips, a documentary screening, and a bisexuality panel that’s set to be both eye-opening and overdue. Saturday night belongs to Juno Dawson’s Lovely Trans Literary Salon (with Munroe Bergdorf) and the festival’s ever-popular open-mic night, hosted by Aflo the poet.
There’s plenty for hands-on types, too: zine-making workshops, writing and publishing talks and masterclasses, a Queer Girls Book Club meet-up, and even a Letters to My Younger Trans Self session. Sunday closes with a literary heavyweight pairing: Ali Smith in conversation with Jackie Kay.
And if that wasn’t enough, the new Queer Heritage Hub brings rare LGBTQIA+ archives into the spotlight, alongside installations, creative workshops, and a specially commissioned Queer Literary Family Tree by artist Robin Whitmore.
Since 2019, more than 7,000 people have taken part in the festival, making it one of the UK’s biggest celebrations of queer writing. It’s “a defiant, joyful, energising antidote to the constant conflict and noise of our times,” said Lesley Wood, CEO of New Writing South, the non-profit that founded the festival with queer-led arts producer Marlborough Productions.
This year looks set to be its most ambitious yet and, to celebrate, we’ve got a special discount for BOTI readers: enter CIQFRIENDS10 at the checkout and you’ll get 10 percent off all tickets and workshops.
Thursday 9th – Sunday 12th October; times vary; from £5
Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, University of Sussex, Gardner Centre Road, Brighton, BN1 9RA
coastisqueer.com
