SHAME/LESS
Reclaiming the joy of queer love, sans shame
Friday 4 November 2022
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm - Wallace Theatre, University of Sydney
In a (Western) world where so many of us are out and proud, why are so many queer stories still centred on shame? Join us as we dig into the shift away from stories of shame, secrets, and sadness towards more nuanced representations of queer lives, queer love… and queer joy!
Kaylene Langford (she/her), Guringay woman is a passionate entrepreneur, coach, writer and speaker, and the founder and owner of StartUp Creative, a hugely popular online platform, podcast, and print magazine that educates, inspires and supports creative entrepreneurs and future innovators. Kaylene has over a decade of experience coaching, educating and supporting individuals to identify and achieve their goals. Working with aspiring and established entrepreneurs, she genuinely believes that everyone has the ability to achieve their potential and take control of their destiny. Blending her knowledge with grit, determination and a truly authentic approach, she's successfully helped countless individuals across every sector establish, work towards and reach their goals. She's a highly respected business coach, podcaster, educator and author whose work has given her unique insight into human behaviour. Her first book How to Start a Side Hustle was published in July 2021 with Hardie Grant Books.
Priyanka Bromhead (she/they) is an eela thamizh antidisciplinary artist, writer and recovering teacher who lives and works on unceded Darug land. The daughter of refugees who fled state sponsored genocide from the island known as Sri Lanka, she has worked with young people in South West and Western Sydney for 15 years presenting antiracist and anticolonial perspectives. Priyanka's own writing chronicles the intersections of her identity, as well as her observations of Western Sydney life through poetry, prose and creative non-fiction. She is inspired by the works of Oodgeroo Noonucal, Toni Morrison, Lauryn Hill and Mathangi Arulpragasam. Her first anthology mozhi (Girls on Key, 2021) is a meditation on the tensions of being colonised and displaced while being complicit in First Nations' displacement. She is the founder of we are the mainstream, a grassroots collective for and by First Nations, gender diverse and women of colour, and is currently working on learning to practise self-compassion, how to rest and has been enjoying pottering in her emerging veggie patch.
Fiona Kelly McGregor Fiona Kelly McGregor’s most recent book is Iris, a novel based on the life of queer petty criminal Iris Webber, set in 1930s Sydney. Her previous novel Indelible ink won Age Book of the Year and was published in French by Actes-Sud. Her non-fiction includes essay collection "Buried not Dead", photoessay "A Novel Idea, and "Strange Museums", a travel memoir of a performance art tour through Poland. Her short story collection Suck my toes/Dirt, won the Steele Rudd Award. McGregor writes for The Saturday Paper, Sydney Review of Books, The Monthly and more. She lives and works on Gadigal country.
Jennifer Mills (she/they) is an author, editor and critic living on Kaurna Yerta. Mills’ novel Dyschronia was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin, Aurealis, and Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature in 2019. Mills’ latest novel is The Airways, a queer ghost story set in Sydney and Beijing, published August 2021 by Picador.
Mark Mariano (he/him) is a Filipino writer, editor, speaker, content producer, and social media whiz from Doonside, on Darug land. Proudly queer, Mark’s work spans across BuzzFeed, SBS, Kweens Of Comedy, The Western, Queerstories, Truth To Power Cafè, United Nations NSW, ABC, and Netflix ANZ. He is also part of the Sweatshop Western Sydney Literacy Movement, through which his debut poem collection ‘Down From Doonside Station’ was published in 2019, and contributed to and sub-edited their 2021 anthology, ‘Racism’. Mark was announced as a highly commended shortlistee for the 2021 Deakin University Non-Fiction Prize, and was commissioned by Blacktown Arts to co-develop ‘Hanap’ - a play written with Rizcel Gagawanan.