Here were are, still in Lockdown v3.0, awaiting the day we get to see the outside world again, so understandably we may not feel like there are too many things to celebrate at the moment. However, there is some positive news out there if you take a closer look: Sheffield has been flying the rainbow flag with both Sheffield United and our own LGBT+ supporters’ club being shortlisted in the Football vs Homophobia awards – a big congratulations to them and good luck!
This month is also LGBT+ History Month, which is usually the busiest month of the year for LGBT+ events. This looks quite different 2021 with events moving online, but it also means that you can access any of the events in the UK from the comfort of your sofa – check out the official LGBT History Month website at www.lgbthistorymonth.org.uk for full national listings.
Here in Sheffield, we have a full program of events courtesy of Sheffield Libraries, starting with Making Our Own Queer History: A Writing Workshop for Teens Aged 13 – 15 yrs (Mon 1 Feb) with the writer in residence Nik Perring – a workshop to show you how to put your hopes, worries, and dreams into words, and to celebrate your own queer stories in any way you choose. Nik will show you how to shape your brilliant ideas, and channel your unique perspectives on the world, into exciting and arresting pieces of writing. Poets, prose writers, and those brand new to writing are all welcome. There’ll also be an opportunity for your work to be broadcast on Sheffield Library’s YouTube Channel, and to enter it into the On a Queer Theme Writing Competition.
Suzie Wright of Sheffield Archives and Jon Newman of Lambeth Archives will be hosting Finding Queer Histories in the Archive (Mon 8 Feb), as they explore some of their collection highlights that offer insights into local LGBT+ history and discuss ways to better collect such materials for the future.
Author of The Strange Worlds Travel Agency, LD Lapinski will talk about how she came up with the idea of Strange Worlds, about world-building in writing, and how she plans to make her novels inclusive and representative at LGBTQ Kids do go to Magic School: How I built queer-inclusive magical world (Wed 10 Feb). With more youth-focused literature we have LGBTQ+ interest books for Children and Young People (Mon 15 Feb) hosted by Liz Chapman (Sheffield Libraries) and Lambeth’s Zoey Dixon.
Finally bringing the program to a close we have the Big Queer Lit Quiz (Wed 17 Feb), a quiz all on LGBTQ+ literature – and a little bit of history!. If quizzing is your thing then there will be more opportunities to test your knowledge with Andro and Eve’s Reyt Queer Quiz! (Fri 5 Feb) testing your knowledge of queer culture and Hallam LGBT+ Staff Network’s LGBT+ History Month Quiz! (Fri 12 Feb( featuring LGBT+ trivia, facts & more – hosted by YouTube STAR Joshua Miles!
That’s your lot for this month. Keep an eye on www.facebook.com/sheffieldlgbtevents for updates and announcements on the latest events and news.
Until next time, love and rainbows…
Heather x