Students and staff from the University of Brighton are stepping up to help shape the UK’s largest LGBTQ+ literature festival.
The University of Brighton says it wants to amplify queer voices and help create safe, inclusive spaces.
Students from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences have been appointed as co-curators of the Coast is Queer Festival, which runs from the 9th to the 12th of October at the University of Sussex.
The role offers them real-world experience in event curation and public engagement, working in partnership with two universities while taking creative ownership and developing professional skills.
The student-curated panels include:
- Graphic Sexuality: The Novel Art of Being Queer – 10 October: 11:30 am – exploring queer storytelling in graphic novels and visual media, chaired by illustrator Seena Shamsavari (aka Sina Sparrow) and featuring GLAAD Award-winning writer Joe Glass, visual artist Alex Taylor (azbt), and writer and zine-maker Meg-John Barker.
- Research: Breathing New Life into Queer History – 10 October: 1:30 pm – exploring how folklore, myth, and contemporary research can uncover queer pasts, chaired by writer and historian Morgan M. Page with historian Sacha Coward, dress historian Eleanor Medhurst (Brighton alumna, now returning to complete her PhD), and cultural curator DJ Ritu MBE.
BA(Hons) Creative Writing student and Student Union Communities Officer, Rosie Birch, said: "Being part of the Coast is Queer festival as a student curator has been amazing. We’ve had the chance to shape events that really reflect our values and experiences, and the diversity of the queer community. It’s exciting to see our ideas come to life and know that people of all ages will come together, share stories, and make connections that go beyond the festival."
PhD researcher in English/Creative Writing, Tom Hull, said: “As student curators we had very free reign and a direct impact on our festival events. We effectively got to put together a dream line-up of writers in conversation and actually make it happen – an exciting responsibility and a brilliant way to connect with people in the industry.”
MA Curating Collections & Heritage student, Suchitra Chatterjee, said: “This year, queer writers of colour and disabled voices are stepping into the spotlight, and I feel privileged to have helped curate their work. In their poetry and stories, I found fragments of my own dual heritage, disability, and queerness reflected back.”
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