The Coast is Queer finds new home at Brighton's Attenborough Centre

The Coast is Queer will return between October 7 and 9 at Brighton’s Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts.

Festival producers, New Writing South and Marlborough Productions, made the move following an online edition of the festival in 2021, which attracted viewers from all over the world.

The Coast is Queer is a significant event for LGBTQ+ literature, with thousands of people experiencing events from over 80 writers since 2019.

Past speakers include Alan Hollinghurst, Dean Atta, Val McDermid, Douglas Stuart, Niven Govinden and Valerie Mason-John.

This year’s line-up includes InWords Literary Award winning author Sarah Winman, whose most recent book Still Life published by Fourth Estate was described as “transcendent, utterly humane” in one review, and Lord Michael Cashman whose life making queer history as an activist, actor and politician is described in his 2020 memoir, One of Them.

Also taking part are Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller, authors of Bad Gays: A Homosexual History, based on the podcast series Bad Gays, celebrated speculative fiction writer, Leone Ross, whose most recent novel, This One Sky Day was published in 2021, and Pushcart Prize-winning author Julia Armfield, whose novel Our Wives Under The Sea was published in 2022.

Novelist, screenwriter and Sunday Times Number 1 Bestseller Juno Dawson will return with another edition of her Lovely Trans Literary Salon this time featuring Travis Alabanza, recognised as “one of the world’s brightest young stars” in Forbes’ 30under30 list.

Continuing a strong tradition of introducing new voices, The Coast is Queer will welcome first-time novelists including Tice Cin, author of the thriller Keeping The House, Shola von Reinhold, author of LOTE, Jon Ransom whose distinctive prose won wide praise in his debut novel The Whale Tattoo, and the author of Lessons in Love and Other Crimes, Elizabeth Chakrabarty, a novel inspired by Elizabeth’s own experiences of hate crime, which has been described as “heart-breaking, hopeful and compulsively readable”.

Sussex author Beatrice Hitchman (Image: The Coast is Queer)

Local writers appearing include Beatrice Hitchman, whose atmospheric story of two Austrian women making a life together in the early 20th century All Of You Every Single One, is longlisted for the Polari Prize, and Helen Trevorrow, author of New Brighton described as “where The Handmaid’s Tale meets Bladerunner”.

Brighton’s award-winning poet John McCullough will also return following the publication of Panic Response.

The festival’s poetry roster also includes Costa Book Award for Poetry winner and editor of 100 Queer Poems, Mary Jean Chan, in the company of Fran Lock, author of eight collections and associate editor at Culture Matters, neo-modernist poet Verity Spott whose work has been translated into five languages, and queer Glaswegian poet Peter Scalpello.

Elias Jahshan, editor of This Arab is Queer and Golnoosh Nour and co-editor of Queer Life, Queer Love will discuss the varied experiences of the queer diasporic community and the interweaving of the personal and political in their respective anthologies with activist, writer and speaker Maryam Din.

A programme of short queer films curated by the British Film Institute including The Cost of Living by Alice Trueman, Bingo Queens by Nick Finegan, Daylight Rules by Alex Browning, Nails and Beauty by Rhona Foster and Octopus by Ella Glendining will be screened throughout the weekend alongside a selection of films produced by Brighton-based filmmakers, My Genderation.

Novelist, playwright and theatre maker Neil Bartlett will take part in a talk (Image: The Coast is Queer)

Lesley Wood, CEO of New Writing South said: “We’re looking forward to welcoming both familiar and new faces to The Coast is Queer, back in joyful real-life in 2022 and, once again, showcasing some of our boldest, brightest and best LGBTQ+ writing talent.

“The festival has become an exuberant part of the UK’s literary landscape and this year feels even more special as we gather in person for three days of powerful, transformative interviews, discussions, readings, films and workshops.”