Regional-based queer creatives operating in the writing sphere will be given an extra boost as Q-Lit comes to Ballarat.
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The touring festival which is a first of its kind aims to provide more opportunities for queer writers, particularly those who are emerging.
Q-Lit creative director Kate Hall said she hopes through this day to make literary events more accessible to artists living in rural and regional areas who might not always have the means to attend larger metro festivals.
She said developing connections between professional and burgeoning writers was also a key goal for Q-Lit.
"We want to encourage emerging writers or people who are thinking about moving from being a hobbyist to an actual published author to actually come out and meet other writers and authors and creatives from emerging to established so we can to start to build those connections and that sense of community," Ms Hall said.
She said the festival would also help queer artists overcome some of the barriers their community face such as visibility.
"Often times people who identify as LGBTQIA+ find it's more difficult for them to access the world of writing and publishing," Ms Hall said.
This scenario is something Ms Hall, a queer identifying author, has personally grappled with.
"I couldn't find a publisher in Australia for my book and in the end I was lucky my novel got picked up by an LGBTQIA+ only publisher in New York," she said.
"But sometimes it can be difficult to find a mainstream publisher or agent in Australia if you identify as queer and are writing fiction or nonfiction or whatever it is your writing that is queer focused."
While there have been LGBTQIA+ literary festivals in Ballarat before she said Q-Lit differed in several ways including operating as a not-for-profit touring festival, being completely free to attend as well as catering for a wide variety of age groups through a number of workshops.
"We've got something for everybody. The sessions run for an hour each. We've got kids and family events in the morning with the fabulous Jasper Peach. Jasper has a book coming out in March on being a queer parent," Ms Hall said.
"We've got a session for young adults with Alison Evans in conversation with writer and academic Hayley Elliott-Ryan and then we have three events for VCE aged students and up.
"We've got Rob McDonald on crime and roads to publishing, Sarah Hart and Hayley Singer on words to alter worlds so writing as activism.
"We've also got Jessie Brautigan who is a poet and therapist and is running a session called Writing from the Body."
IN THE NEWS:
Q-Lit will kick off at the Sebastopol Library on Sunday January 15 from 10am and their evening session will be held at the Piano Bar from 6pm.
Ballarat's pride event Frolic Festival will be held from February 9-12.
For more visit the Q-Lit website.
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Malvika Hemanth
Malvika has a strong interest in covering stories on welfare, cost of living pressures and the arts. She works on the unceded lands of the Wadawurrung people and pays her respect to elders past, present and emerging.
Malvika has a strong interest in covering stories on welfare, cost of living pressures and the arts. She works on the unceded lands of the Wadawurrung people and pays her respect to elders past, present and emerging.
