Polari returns to Hastings!
Hosted by author Paul Burston with local literary legend VG Lee, local poet Dillon Jaxx and visiting playwright and performer Alexis Gregory.
VG Lee is the author of 5 novels and 2 short story collections. Widely anthologised, her writing has appeared in numerous and diverse publications including Poetry Review, Diva Magazine, The Lady Magazine and The Guardian.
In 2012 she was nominated for a Stonewall Award, 2014 brought the Ultimate Planet Award for Best Established Author; and in 2017 she was runner up for Diva/YLVA Publishing Literary Prize for Fiction. In 2022 she was long-listed for the BBC National Short Story Award
VG Lee is a judge for the prestigious Polari Book Prize and also the Hastings Literary Festival Short Story Prize.
Alexis Gregory's plays include the critically acclaimed Riot Act, Sex/Crime, Safe and Slap.
Tonight he performs an extract from his new show FutureQueer. It’s 2071….and the whole world is queer. Voguing and lip syncing are categories in the Olympics. There's a statue of George Michael on Hampstead Heath. The UK has its first openly queer monarch. And Starbucks own Pride (boo!).
FutureQueer is part theatre, stand-up comedy, DIY queer lecture, and speculative fabulation.
Dillon Jaxx is a queer disabled writer. Poems have appeared online and in print including Poetry Wales, Alchemy Spoon and Ink, Sweat & Tears.
Winner of the Rebecca Swift Writing Prize 2022. Dillon has been placed in various poetry competitions, including most recently winning second prize in the Brighton and Hove competition, and first prize in the Wolverhampton poetry competition.
Their first pamphlet has been shortlisted a handful of times – this year they’d like to see it published.
Bookstall kindly provided by The Hastings Bookshop.
This venue is wheelchair accessible.