Queerstories

By Katie Winten

Every day we tell our stories to our friends, our family, our psychologists, our uber drivers. We compartmentalise, we come undone, we feel guilty for drunkenly ranting to anyone who will listen. But how often do we collectively listen to the stories of strangers?

Queerstories provides a safe space for the LGBTQI+ community to share their stories – “reflections on lives well lived and battles fought, pride, prejudice, love and humour”. All the messy things we’re discouraged from talking about in public. We chat to Maeve Marsden in anticipation of this Friday’s Queerstories as part of Sydney Fringe Festival.

What are the origins of Queerstories? How long has it been running for?

I started Queerstories when I was curating the Late Night Library program for the City of Sydney, a wonderful initiative that has artists programming storytelling, comedy, music, talks and more in the libraries after dark. I was programming the Kings Cross Library and I loved the idea of exploring local queer histories near the site of the first Mardi Gras. As a queer woman myself, who was raised by lesbian mothers, I really feel I’ve benefited from growing up in the midst of queer culture. I think the stories we get from mainstream media about LGBTQI people can be quite limited, because the opportunities are set by a mainstream, heteronormative agenda. We hear a lot about coming out and marriage, but there is so much more to being a part of the LGBTQI community. I wanted to see what stories we heard when I invited a diverse range of speakers to share a story about anything they wanted. I’ve now run 4 Queerstories, 2 for LNL, one for Sydney Festival LNL and one for NSW Seniors Week. I am planning to run the event regularly at Giant Dwarf in 2017.
 

There’s quite a diverse line-up of speakers for this Friday’s iteration of Queerstories as part of Sydney Fringe Festival, what’s your selection process like in approaching speakers? Is it important to include voices from different industries/backgrounds?

For me, programming a diverse range of speakers isn’t about ticking boxes, it’s about ensuring the night will be engaging and varied, and ensuring we hear stories from different pockets of our community. I always have more speakers from the creative industries, because I want to book good storytellers, but I’ve also had a scientist, academics, a doctor, a law student, public servants, activists and so on. I tend to start with one or two speakers who I most want to include and then I build the line up around them to ensure a mix. I have a list saved of about 30 people who are my top picks and people have now started recommending others to me which is wonderful. I look to have a range of ages, cultural backgrounds, sexualities and gender. I really love the programming part of the process! I should also mention that the event is Auslan interpreted.

For this Queerstories, I am excited to have Paul Mac and Jonny Seymour sharing stories about their creative collaboration and friendship. I love the way they act as “gay uncles” to the community, they’re just fabulous. I’m thrilled to have Jordan Raskopoulous, who I’ve followed for years as fellow comedy / fringe circuit people. Amy Coopes and Stephen Lindsay Ross I chose because they are both wonderful writers, but aren’t working in the arts or creative industries, so I was keen to see where their stories might take us. You just can’t beat good storytelling. And Kira Puru, I booked because I have such a musical crush on her! She’s incredible.

Is there a theme for this Friday?

At this stage I don’t theme Queerstories as I like to keep the topics really open but I’ve thought of doing some that are themed, like a comedians one for Sydney Comedy Festival. I also had an idea today that I could do a break ups special where pairs of exes told the story of their break ups. I think break ups and divorce in the LGBTQI community are interesting because, as a small community, we often have to continue to engage with our ex partners (sometimes because they’re dating our friends!) and I think we deal with the notion of being an “ex” in a different way to the straight community. I’m generalising, obviously, but the cliche of lesbians being besties with their exes exists for a reason.

Can you share any hints about some of the stories that will be told on Friday? Or are they all top secret?

Top secret, I am afraid. Though one of our speakers has asked not to be recorded because their story is too outrageous to be saved for posterity…

What have some of the highlights been through running Queerstories?

I’ve loved every event and every speaker for different reasons. The first event was really special, we had speakers ranging from 22 to 82, and the Reverend Dorothy McRae McMahon held the audience in the palm of her hand! That was also the one where Zoe Coombs Marr made our Auslan interpreters come up with heaps of different ways to interpret “fisting” and Matthew Mitcham had them interpret ‘Single Ladies’ resulting in a mix of Auslan and dancing. I loved the Queerstories we did in the Sydney Festival Village as well, as it was open, so people just wandered over and we drew a crowd who mightn’t have booked a ticket had they seen the event advertised but still got to hear the stories. I’m sure I’ll have more highlights after Friday night!

QUEERSTORIES
Friday September 16, 7:30pm – 8:30pm
Giant Dwarf Theatre, 199 Cleveland St, Redfern
Tickets from $25 – more info here