Events
LGBT+ Creative Writing Workshops - New Series
7 May 2024 to 28 May 2024 - 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Old Diorama Arts Centre, Regent's Place, 201 Drummond Street, London NW1 3FE
Following the success of our April series in Westminster, we are running more workshops on four evenings in May at the Old Diorama Arts Centre.
We continue to focus on Flash Fiction, with a view to participants contributing to Flash Dances, the new anthology to be published by Paradise Press.
Flash Fiction attracts a lot of interest these days. They are tiny polished stories which create a complete world in miniature, in 600, 300 or even as few as 100 words. For new writers, the form of Flash Fiction is approachable and does not require nearly as much commitment as writing, for example, a full-length novel.
Nevertheless it is highly disciplined and every word has to tell something. Participants will also have the chance, If they wish, to read their work at a series of library events and to enter a Flash-writing competition judged by professional authors.
To enrol for this series, please go to Eventbrite.
Important: We ask those who sign up for the course to commit to all four weeks. If you can’t do that, there will be another series of four in June on Thursdays.
Lost Places: GAW at South London Group
14 May 2024 at 8.00 p.m.
Bread and Roses, 68 Clapham Manor Street, London SW4 6DZ
Nearest Tube Clapham North & Overground Clapham High Street.
A bitter-sweet evening of reminiscence.
We all have places which hold special significance in our lives, places which often have disappeared, remaining only in our memories.
Lost Places is a collection of memories of such places by LGBT authors, published by Paradise Press. Poems, celebrations of collective endeavours, toilets, cinemas, bars ranging from Oxford to Paris.
Authors reading at this free event, include Ian Towson, Peter Scott-Presland, John Dixon (health permitting) and Jeff Doorn. We also encourage the audience to share their memories of places which were special to them.
Writing Proud
25 June 2024 - 6.00 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Hammersmith Library, Shepherd's Bush Road, Hammersmith, London W6 7AT
We are running a series of readings in boroughs as part of Pride 2024, including Wandsworth and Lewisham. This is the first.
Various members of Gay Authors' Workshop will be reading from stories, poems and essays around the themes of Pride, self-respect and discovery. This ties in with a new anthology, now in preparation, called SHIFT_, about moments of change.
Please feel free to bring along a short piece of your own writing to share. Light refreshments will be provided.
Reserve your place on Eventbrite.
Past Events
Lost Places Presentation
April 2024 at Somerset Day Centre
Jeffrey Doorn presented Lost Places to Older & Out, a meet-up group of 50+ LGBTQ+ folk.
Special focus was the writings of Jill Gardiner, who lived in Brighton and to whom the book is dedicated.
Associates of Jill read her poems and sections of her prose piece Finding and Losing Lesbian Spaces in Brighton and Hove, and Beyond.
Adrian Risdon's Old Steine set poem One-way Transaction was also read and V G Lee join them from Hastings with a reading from The Last Gold Star Lesbian.
Writing on Health And Mental Health
March 2024 at Westminster Reference Library
An evening of readings about LGBT+ health and mental health, headed up by Hastie Salih's presentation. Hastie is a semi-retired doctor who has specialised in this area.
She's also a member of GAW, a poet and author of the romantic lesbian thriller, Dahlia and Carys. Other GAW members read related stories and poems. Members of the audience were also invited to bring along their work and read short extracts from it.
Poetry Evening
March 2024 at Camberwell Library
Founded in 1978, Gay Authors Workshop is a cooperative of LGBT+ creative writers who meet regularly to discuss and develop their work.
Members presented a variety of their published and unpublished poems as well as examples by other members. Budding LGBT+ poets attending were also be invited to share their original work.
Launch of Lost Places: An LGBT Anthology
February 2024 at Carnegie Library
We all have places which hold special significance in our lives, places which often have disappeared, remaining only in our memories. Lost Places is a collection of bitter-sweet recollections of such places by LGBT authors, published by Paradise Press.
Reading from the collection were writers Ian Townson on Railton Road, John Dixon on public conveniences, Jeffrey Doorn on The Biograph, Peter Scott-Presland on The Cape of Good Hope, Oxford, and poems by Beth Lister and Stephanie Dickinson.
This was the first airing of this haunting collection.
Readings and Promotion of Paradise Press
February 2024 at Hornsey Library
Jeffrey Doorn has been involved in the gay community for over fifty years. He was a regular at the Stonewall Inn before it became a world-wide symbol of resistance. He's edited several PP anthologies.
Attendees were encouraged to bring along a short sample of their own work to share with everyone.
Photos from EventLost Places
February 2024 at Shoe Lane Library
A Lost Places presentation evening with V G Lee, Stephanie Dickinson, Jeffrey Doorn and Micky Silver.
Photos from Event