Queerstories

After leaving Chile for Australia as a child, Huey has persistent questions about where he comes from, til a family secret is revealed that changes everything.Huey Acuna aka Ru Bella came to Australia from Chile in 1975 as a refugee with his family of 6. Huey has been performing as a Drag Queen for the past 15 years, and has been performing more broadly since 1988 including stage, TV and events, as well as teaching singing and dancing.Queerstories an award-winning LGBTQI+ storytelling project directed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For more information, visit www.queerstories.com.au and follow Queerstories on Facebook.The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independent bookseller or on Booktopia.To support Queerstories, become a patron at www.patreon.com/ladysingsitbetterAnd for gay stuff and insomnia rants follow Maeve Marsden on Twitter and Instagram. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out informat

Jex shares a story about healing from trauma through therapy and music while working as a children's performer in regional NSW.Jex Lopez is mostly known amongst queers as a singer songwriting pianist. A vaudevillian cabaret noir artist, her music and style is intrinsically tied to her identity as a queer Latina Meztiça with Portuguese Indian heritage. Jex creates unconventional and elaborate costumes and projections to accompany her unique sound stories. She released her irreverent debut album ‘Playing Dead’ in 2018. She now works part time as a primary school music teacher and, since covid, spends a lot of time making visual art for her Lino print business JexCuts. Across all of her creative practice, she makes beauty from the shadows and finds theatre and joy where we could easily despair. Queerstories an award-winning LGBTQI+ storytelling project directed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For more information, visit www.queerstories.com.au and follow Queerstories on Facebook

Through their encounters with ghosts - sexual, familial, always magical - Peter questions what is real, and finds such encounters are more common than you'd think.Peter Lehner lives in the rainbow region and travels to connect with communities. Their many years of experience includes acting, directing and production of short films, TV, theatre and cabaret. Best known for their work with choirs and singing, the Universal Peace Federation, a worldwide, non-profit organization founded to advance the cause of peace locally and worldwide, honoured Peter with a “Living for Others” Award. The Sydney Morning Herald chose Peter as one of “Sydney’s Top 100 Influencial People” in 2009. Peter was honoured to receive Lismore’s Australia Day Award for Community Service in 2011. Queerstories an award-winning LGBTQI+ storytelling project directed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For more information, visit www.queerstories.com.au and follow Queerstories on Facebook.The Queerstories book is pu

Soon after moving to Naarm, Travis moves into a sharehouse in Footscray, finding a sense of belonging that inspires him to research his local family history.Travis Larcombe is a local queer writer and proud resident of Tuggeranong. They have been writing funny, sad and inspiring stories since they were old enough to pick up a crayon. Their work has previously been published in SBS Voices, The Chaser, and Perspektif magazine.Queerstories an award-winning LGBTQI+ storytelling project directed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For more information, visit www.queerstories.com.au and follow Queerstories on Facebook.The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independent bookseller or on Booktopia.To support Queerstories, become a patron at www.patreon.com/ladysingsitbetter See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Yenn shares a story about contending with their past.Yenn Purkiss is an autistic and non-binary author, advocate, public speaker and community leader. They also have a diagnosis of schizophrenia. They are the author of nine published books on elements of autism and blog regularly. Yenn is a public speaker of almost 20 years’ experience and has presented at a range of events including for TEDx Canberra in 2013. Yenn facilitates an autism support group which has been running since 2011. They have a number of awards for their work including the 2016 ACT Volunteer of the Year and 2019 ACT Chief Minister’s Inclusion Award.Queerstories an award-winning LGBTQI+ storytelling project directed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For more information, visit www.queerstories.com.au and follow Queerstories on Facebook.The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independent bookseller or on Booktopia.To support Queerstories, become a patro

When Joo-Inn and her brother meet Liz from the crematorium their grief turns to delirium as they try to plan their father's funeral.Joo-Inn Chew is a writer and doctor working in general practice and refugee health. She has had short stories, memoir and poetry published in various anthologies, most recently 'Growing Up Queer in Australia' and 'These Strange Outcrops: Writing and Art from Canberra'. She lives in Canberra with her partner and two children.Queerstories an award-winning LGBTQI+ storytelling project directed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For more information, visit www.queerstories.com.au and follow Queerstories on Facebook.The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independent bookseller or on Booktopia.To support Queerstories, become a patron at www.patreon.com/ladysingsitbetter See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dale shares a story about facing her fears relating to transition during a trip to Nepal.Dale Sheridan is a writer, transgender advocate and lawyer. Her writing on transgender and broader LGBTIQ+ issues has been published in the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Canberra Times, Stuff.co.nz and snowsbest.com. She has also appeared on ABC Radio and at various public speaking engagements to share aspects of her lived experience as a woman with a transgender history.Queerstories an award-winning LGBTQI+ storytelling project directed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For more information, visit www.queerstories.com.au and follow Queerstories on Facebook.The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independent bookseller or on Booktopia.To support Queerstories, become a patron at www.patreon.com/ladysingsitbetterAnd for gay stuff and insomnia rants follow Maeve Marsden on Twitter and Instagram. See acast.com/privacy for pr

Feeling disconnected from her body, Krissy signs up for a burlesque class.Krissy Kneen is the author of the bestselling memoir Affection; the novels Steeplechase, Triptych, The Adventures of Holly White and the Incredible Sex Machine; and the Thomas Shapcott Award–winning poetry collection Eating My Grandmother. Her novel An Uncertain Grace was shortlisted for the Stella Prize, the Norma K Hemming Award and the Aurealis awards, while Wintering was longlisted for the Colin Roderick Award and shortlisted for the Davitt Award and the QLA for Fiction and A Work of State Significance. She is currently developing two TV series and a feature film. She is the current Copyright Agency Ltd Non-Fiction Fellow. Queerstories an award-winning LGBTQI+ storytelling project directed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For more information, visit www.queerstories.com.au and follow Queerstories on Facebook.The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and c

Rebecca leans in to the trope of lesbians and cats, adopting not one but seven to appease her animal loving wife.Rebecca Starford is the author Bad Behaviour: A Memoir of Bullying and Boarding School and novel The Imitator. She is the Co-founder and Publishing Director of Kill Your Darlings magazine and a former editor at Text Publishing and Affirm Press. Bad Behaviour is currently in development with Matchbox Pictures for adaptation into a TV series. Rebecca recently completed a PhD at the University of Queensland, where she has taught creative writing.Queerstories an award-winning LGBTQI+ storytelling project directed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For more information, visit www.queerstories.com.au and follow Queerstories on Facebook.The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independent bookseller or on Booktopia.To support Queerstories, become a patron at www.patreon.com/ladysingsitbetter See acast.com/privacy for

Alistair briefly dates a man who tries multiple times to convert him to his cult.Alistair Baldwin is a writer, comedian, thought leader and sometimes blonde. He has written for The Weekly, Hard Quiz, Get Krack!n and At Home Alone Together. He is a member of experimental comedy duo Nemeses with Vidya Rajan. He has been published in Metro, Archer, The Guardian and ACMI Ideas – and is a contributor to Growing Up Disabled In Australia.Queerstories an award-winning LGBTQI+ storytelling project directed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For more information, visit www.queerstories.com.au and follow Queerstories on Facebook.The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independent bookseller or on Booktopia.To support Queerstories, become a patron at www.patreon.com/ladysingsitbetter See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Kaya goes hiking with his mother in the Himalayas, an extract from his memoir As Beautiful As Any Other: a memoir of my body, published by Pan McMillan in 2021.Kaya Wilson is a writer and tsunami scientist whose work has been published widely. In 2019, Kaya was the recipient of the Writing NSW Varuna Fellowship where he completed his first book As Beautiful as Any Other: A memoir of my body, published by Pan Macmillan.Queerstories an award-winning LGBTQI+ storytelling project directed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For more information, visit www.queerstories.com.au and follow Queerstories on Facebook.The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independent bookseller or on Booktopia.To support Queerstories, become a patron at www.patreon.com/ladysingsitbetter See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hayden shares his experience being the first transgender person to compete in Irish Dancing competitions in so-called "Australia".Hayden Moon is an out and proud 26 year old Queer, legally blind, transmasculine person. He is a PhD candidate in Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Sydney, a Pinnacle Foundation Scholar and a competitive Irish dancer. In any spare time he can find, he advocates for the LGBTQIA+, disabled and First Nations communities through his roles in various activist collectives. He also consults with LGBTQIA+ organisations such as ACON and The LGBTI Health Alliance. In 2020, Hayden was awarded the Out For The Next Generation – Student of the Year award in Out For Australia’s 30 Under 30 Awards. Queerstories an award-winning LGBTQI+ storytelling project directed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For more information, visit www.queerstories.com.au and follow Queerstories on Facebook.The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and c

Joe shares a moving story of family, love, dance and Parkinson's Disease.Joe Levitt moved to Australia from America in 1996 at the age of 36. He recently retired from work in clinical trials, but has also been a dance instructor, flight attendant, registered nurse, pharmaceutical rep, and bartender. When not contemplating what to be when he grows up, he can be found biking, swimming, at the dog park, or dancing with his husband.Queerstories an award-winning LGBTQI+ storytelling project directed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For more information, visit www.queerstories.com.au and follow Queerstories on Facebook.The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independent bookseller or on Booktopia.To support Queerstories, become a patron at www.patreon.com/ladysingsitbetter See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In the mid-90s, balancing the hedonism of being embedded in the queer community with the formalities of her growing profile as a writer, Fiona takes a memorable trip to Queensland.Fiona McGregor has published seven books, most recently the essay collection Buried not dead. Her novel Indelible Ink won the Age Book of the Year. Her other books include the photoessay A Novel Idea, travel memoir Strange Museums, short story collection Suck My Toes/Dirt, which won the Steele Rudd Award, and the underground classic chemical palace. Fiona is also known for an extensive repertoire of performance art with a focus on the body, duration and endurance. She has been active in Sydney’s queer culture since 1990.  Queerstories an award-winning LGBTQI+ storytelling project directed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For more information, visit www.queerstories.com.au and follow Queerstories on Facebook.The Queer

A brief career as some sort of cult leader lands a young Tamara in trouble after she preaches self-discovery from the top of the school slippery dip.Tamara Natt (she/her) is a queer poet, essayist and playwright living with her wife and the local bird gangs on the semi-rural Australian coastline. Spanning her beat poetry play ALPHA (Edinburgh Fringe Festival) to A Letter to Everyone I Have Ever Met, an online project that interrogates the significance of first impressions, her work is deeply personal, highly political and brutally romantic.Queerstories an award-winning LGBTQI+ storytelling project directed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For more information, visit www.queerstories.com.au and follow Queerstories on Facebook.The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independent bookseller or on Booktopia.To support Queerstories, become a patron at www.patreon.com/ladysingsitbetter See a

A queer reboot of the Arthurian table of legend, but this time with lesbians, drag queens and a ghost.Brendan Hancock is a Sydney based comedian who is well-known on the scene. You've heard him on FBi radio, seen him host the rave-reviewed Two Queers Walk Into a Bar at Giant Dwarf Theatre, and as the resident MC of Darlo Underground at Darlinghurst Theatre. Not one to let 2020 get him down, he also co-produced the Two Queers Festival, Australia’s first queer comedy festival! Already a crowd fave and "everything we didn't know we needed'' (Time Out Sydney), Brendan recently spent all of January with his dog Sam and had a nice time. Queerstories an award-winning LGBTQI+ storytelling project directed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For more information, visit www.queerstories.com.au and follow Queerstories on Facebook.The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independent bookseller or on Booktopia.To support Queerstories,

Rosie doesn't have great luck with showing vulnerability in the world of romance. Here are but a few embarrassing calamities from a life well (read: poorly) lived.Rosie Piper is Australia’s premier transgender lesbian comedian*. “A long-running favourite of Sydney’s comedy scene, you might’ve seen Rosie perform her stand-up at the Sydney Opera House, Enmore Theatre, on Tonightly, at Splendour in the Grass or just at gigs all around the country, supporting the likes of Wil Anderson and Zoe Coombs Marr. More likely though, you’ve seen her at a KFC somewhere shovelling popcorn chicken into her face with gay abandon.*maybeQueerstories an award-winning LGBTQI+ storytelling project directed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For more information, visit www.queerstories.com.au and follow Queerstories on Facebook.The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independent bookseller or on Booktopi

Frances shares a story of migration, Mills and Boon, and a daughter finally recognising her mother.By day, Frances Lockie is a public servant turned corporate sellout clinging desperately to the vestiges of her soul by working on human services projects. By night, she is a mouthy dork who has strong opinions about pro wrestling, One Direction, and sex playlists. Her first crush was Joey McIntyre from New Kids on the Block.Queerstories an award-winning LGBTQI+ storytelling project directed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For more information, visit www.queerstories.com.au and follow Queerstories on Facebook.The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independent bookseller or on Booktopia.To support Queerstories, become a patron at www.patreon.com/ladysingsitbetterAnd for gay stuff and insomnia rants follow Maeve Marsden on Twitter and Instagram. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Imogen reflects on bodies, history, gender and connection, remembering her mother, an ex-partner and her childhood.Imogen Kelly is a performance artist, writer, director and producer. Hailing from the queer underground, Imogen is renowned as Australia’s Queen of Burlesque and was officially crowned World Queen of Burlesque in 2012 (Burlesque Hall of Fame, Las Vegas).
 A La Clique/ La Soiree veteran and creator of award winning burlesque theatre shows, Imogen has performed in The Sydney Opera House, Sydney Festival, Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Vivid Festival, The New York Burlesque Festival, The Noumea Burlesque Festival, Helsinki Burlesque Festival, Prague, New Orleans, Dallas, Austin, Toronto, Hamburg, Berlin and beyond. During COVID Imogen has been making short films of her performance pieces and is preparing for an exhibition in late 2021. This year she is launching three shows in Sydney including The La La Parlour, a quarterly variety night, Herstory- The Walls Are Talking- a trip through the history of Au

Dan shares a story about his relationship to smoking, and its connection to family, community and his sense of self.Dan Murphy is a DJ and filmmaker, and is not to be confused with the liquor shop, although they both are full of cheap booze. He's been the opening DJ for Cher, Kylie and Dannii Minogue, created community videos for marriage equality, GetUp! and Mardi Gras, and was a regular columnist for QX Magazine and Same Same.Queerstories an award-winning LGBTQI+ storytelling project directed by Maeve Marsden, with regular events around Australia. For more information, visit www.queerstories.com.au and follow Queerstories on Facebook.The Queerstories book is published by Hachette Australia, and can be purchased from your favourite independent bookseller or on Booktopia.To support Queerstories, become a patron at www.patreon.com/ladysingsitbetterAnd for gay stuff and insomnia rants follow Maeve Marsden on Twitter and Instagram. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.