The 5th annual Naked Heart: An LGBTQ Festival of Words (the worldās largest queer/trans literary festival) happens this weekend. I love this event every year, for its realness, freshness, relatability; for featuring queers like me and unlike me, all having meaningful, vulnerable conversations about, and presenting work about, the intersection of queer/trans lives and literature. Itās one of the few multi-event festivals or conferences Iāve presented or attended where I feel like itās safe to show our whole selves. Plus they work hard on accessibility, and this year as previously they have a scent-free policy for everyone attending. So as soon as the festival was confirmed, I rearranged my week and a half around the festival to allow best spoon usage and ability to participate in everything I can. Iām so excited, I feel all sparkly.
If you want to go too (and I imagine you do!), the schedule of Naked Heart events can be found here: Naked Heart Festival Program. There is a separate link to buy passes (on a sliding scale), or you can pay $5 per session. (Additional info for fellow poor folks: there are completely free passes for folks who canāt afford to pay for one. Email vip@gladday.ca to claim one.)
About my participation:
Iām performing my poetry at the opening event on Friday November 22nd, at 8:30pm, at Glad Day Bookshop, as part of a reading titled āPoetic Justiceā. The event page is here: https://www.nhprogram.com/friday/reading-poetic-justice.
Then Iām speaking on a panel on Saturday November 23rd at 11am at Buddies in Bad Times, titled āAnything Can Happen With A Panel Of Neurodivergentsā. This is a rare panel topic ā though it totally shouldnāt be. Autistics and other neurodivergents are a riot on panels. Weāre entertaining, unique, and unfiltered. You want to see particularly unvarnished queer writers? This is the place. Iām so looking forward to this experience of bonding and belly laughs. The event page: https://www.nhprogram.com/saturday/anything-can-happen-with-a-panel-of-neurodivergents
And Iām running a workshop called āSubmitting Your Work to Journals & Anthologies: Step-by-Step Strategies for Emerging Writersā on Saturday November 23rd at 2:15pm at Buddies in Bad Times. Yes, that title is a mouthful, but also ā it says exactly whatās in the tin. If youāre an emerging writer, this might be a useful session for you. I spent a few years re-inventing the wheel on submitting writing work, and stumbling a lot, because I didnāt have a manual. Now that Iāve worked that shit out, Iām sharing a short version of that manual on what to do, how to do it, and…how to survive it emotionally. The event page has a longer blurb: https://www.nhprogram.com/saturday/submitting-your-work-to-journals-amp-anthologies-step-by-step-strategies-for-emerging-writers. I am also super happy that this workshop will be ASL interpreted! The interpreters will be Ayoka & Tammy.
Other events I am super looking forward to and am recommending:
* Workshop: āWriting Sex For Trauma Survivorsā on Saturday. (The session I didn’t know I needed, but I do.)
https://www.nhprogram.com/saturday/writingsexfortraumasurviviors
* Panel: “Mixed Racial Identity in the Urban Imagination & Experience” on Saturday. (With ASL interpretation.)
https://www.nhprogram.com/saturday/mixed-racial-identity-in-the-urban-imagination-experience
* Reading: āPost-Trauma – What Comes After You Surviveā on Sunday. (With ASL interpretation.)
https://www.nhprogram.com/sunday-1/post-trauma-what-comes-after-you-survive
* Panel: āRage and Channelling Angerā on Sunday. (With ASL interpretation.)
https://www.nhprogram.com/sunday-1/rage-and-channelling-anger
* Panel: āWriter’s Bodyā on Sunday. (With ASL interpretation.)
https://www.nhprogram.com/sunday-1/writers%20body
Access notes: Both venues for the festival events are wheelchair-accessible, including the washrooms. (At Buddies the washroom is accessed via elevator that has to be operated by a staff member.) Both have gender-non-policed washrooms, including single-stall washrooms, and both venues are explicitly trans- and gender-non-conformity-friendly. All events at the festival are designated scent-free, as some performers (and attendees), including me, have severe scent sensitivities. So in the interests of us scent-disabled folks being well enough to speak and perform, please please arrive unscented. (More info on being scent-free is here: https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/325005_4a979e8ae5844b8d8039a7fd905873e4.pdf or here: https://brownstargirl.org/fragrance-free-femme-of-colour-genius/)
Happy festival weekend, and hope to run into you there <3.