This year the National Library of Scotland is 100 years old, and we asked people to share the books they love with us. To mark Pride, our panel of LGBT+ individuals will talk about the books and publications that have influenced their lives.
Panellists
Sasha De Buyl (Chair) is a writer and programmer from Cork. Their work has been published in ‘Gutter’ and ‘The Stinging Fly’ among others. They are currently undertaking a DFA in Writing at the University of Glasgow.
Graeme Hawley (Head of Published Collections at National Library of Scotland) works at the Library and is used to dealing with millions of books. But out of that huge collection some are more personally significant than others. He shares the books that were helpful to him in his coming out, and a tiny entry in ‘The List’ with a big memory attached to it.
Sigrid Nielsen co-founded Lavender Menace, Scotland’s first lesbian and gay community bookshop, as a partnership in 1982. Sigrid managed author readings, mail order lists, and bookshop events. She left as a partner in 1987 and later co-edited ‘In Other Words: Writing as a Feminist’ (Hutchinson Education, 1987) and published articles and short stories. In 2019, she and Bob revived Lavender Menace as an LGBT+ books archive and heritage organisation.
Niall Moorjani is an award winning and critically acclaimed Scottish-Indian, non-binary and neurodiverse writer, storyteller and theatre maker based between Edinburgh and London. They create for both children and adults, but at the core of all their work are themes of hope, joy and kindness.
Other panellists to be announced.
Our audience will be invited to share memories and recommendations of books that have influenced them.
This event has been developed in partnership with Lavender Menace and will be highlighting their queer books archive.
