The night where LGBTQIA+ adults read their REAL teenage diaries!
Would you read your teenage diary to a room full of people?
A daring group of LGBTQIA+ folks are doing just that at Queer Diary: The night where queers share our teenage angst (and our dreams, follies, and fabulousness) in the name of nostalgia, solidarity, and fun!
We can't promise to reunite you with your first crush, but we aim to reignite that rush of adrenaline you got when they first noticed you. Expect: earnest journal entries, long-lost love-letters, fabulous fan-fiction, terrible tumblr posts & possibly some cringey poetry 👀
PLUS: School Disco Afterparty ✨
Re-do your end-of-term disco, minus the adolescent awkwardness!
Dance the night away to all the throwback tracks from YOUR coming-of-age era 🎶
Girlbands or Grunge? Emo or S Club? The DJ will take requests 💿
Think: we’re in Year 8 again, but everyone’s queer & allowed to stay out past midnight 💋
Wear what you want* ❤️🔥
Dance with who you want 💞
🚫 No bullies allowed!
"The rip-roaring playlist continues as chairs are cleared away so the dancing can begin… as awkward and beautifully careless as it might have been at school. It’s the queer school disco young people deserve but don’t always get…. A space to look back on our formative years with kindness and laughter."
- ★★★★★ The Reviews Hub
"Each reader brought a unique slice of their adolescent experience, painting a vivid, often poignant picture of what it meant to grow up queer… met with supportive applause and laughter, creating an atmosphere of camaraderie and understanding. A touching, uplifting, and thoroughly enjoyable experience [bringing] the LGBTQIA+ community together in a celebration of their shared histories and individual journeys"
- ★★★★ The Live Review
“If a Queer Diary event was held on the Moon, the most anti-capitalist Queers would be befriending Bezos in hope of a rocket ride"
- DIVA Magazine
Queer Diary is created & hosted by Beth Watson:
“Strikes an expert balance between including the cringeworthy teenage experience we all remember, and creating a unique insight into growing up queer in the 90’s. While the verbatim diary entries [are] admittedly shocking – and hilarious – there is a real hard-hitting truth to them.”
★★★★★ - A Young(ish) Perspective
"An incredibly funny, charismatic performer, who absolutely embraces the silliness… whilst bringing earnest truth throughout."
★★★★ - West End With Me
‘"Clarissa Explains It All’ - if Clarissa was talking about having gay sex at sleepovers and seeing their Geography teacher in hot pants at Brighton Pride."
★★★★ - To Do List
*flame shirts, wet-look hair gel, glitter bodyspray, all STRONGLY enouraged ✨
Queer Diary is supported by The National Lottery Community Fund.
HOW IT WORKS
Queer Diary is an ‘open-mic-style' event for LGBTQIA+ participants to share real writing from their past: A limited number of spots are available for anyone with teenage diaries, poetry, fanfic, or whatever you kept from your coming-of-age-era.
For this event, new readers MUST be confirmed in advance (readers’ FAQs & contact form here).
TICKETS
- Pay What You Can: We want everyone to be able to afford to attend, so we operate an honesty policy, with tiered pricing as a guideline, and no ‘proof’ needed to book lower-cost ticket options.
- Supportive Rate: Paying a higher rate, if you can, enables us to offer cheaper/free tickets, removing cost barriers for others.
- NOTAFLOF (No One Turned Away For Lack Of Funds) We have a limited number of completely free tickets available for this event, for anyone who would not otherwise be able to attend.
- Access Worker Please select this option to add a ticket for your access worker/PA if you need their support to attend.
TIMINGS
19:00 Doors
19:00-19:30 ‘You Can Sit With Us’ Social - Coming solo? In a pair seeking pals? Early doors for mingling & icebreakers.
19:30-21:30 Show - Diary/poetry/fanfic readings (interval halfway through)
21:30-00:00 School Disco - Dancefloor til midnight ✨
PLEASE NOTE
This is a Queer-led & Queer-centred event, for LGBTQIA+ adults. Allies can attend with LGBTQIA+ friends/partners. We'll never question your place in this Queer space, or police entry based on perceived identity.
Discrimination will not be tolerated. This includes – but is not limited to: homophobia, transphobia, biphobia, racism, sexism, ableism, classism, body-shaming. If anything/anyone makes you feel uncomfortable or unsafe, please let event organisers, assistants, and/or venue staff know ASAP.
We take photos & video to help publicise future events – please let photographer/videographers if you don’t want to appear in photos (we can also remove any photos you don’t like from our social media, on request).
ACCESS
- Entry to the venue is via ramp (to the right of Brighton Zip when facing the sea.). All Daltons' entrypoints are double or triple width. Floor surfaces are flat and smooth.
- There is an accessible toilet, with radar key.
- Seating is unreserved as standard. Please let us know in advance if you would like us to reserve a seat, and if you have specific access requirements we can accommodate in doing so (ie, near the front, near the exit, etc).
- Diary readers are asked to self-describe, for any blind or visually impaired audience members.
- Due to the open-mic nature of this event, material cannot always be ‘vetted’ by organisers, and we cannot always provide detailed content warnings in advance. We ask everyone volunteering to read to consider the wellbeing of themself and others, when deciding what to share on stage, and use content warnings if relevant.
- BSL Interpreters will be booked to interpret all readings from the stage (TBC - we'll update this event page with the names of interpreters as/when they're booked)
- We encourage you to take a COVID test before attending, and welcome the wearing of masks. Please do NOT attend this event if you feel unwell, even if it is “just a cold” - look after yourself, and our community by not spreading it.
If you have questions, or access requirements you’d like to speak to us about, email Queer Diary organisers Josie & Beth at hello@queerdiary.org.uk.