Text from Five Leaves website: We’re delighted to be bringing back our half day showcase of LGBTQ+ writers, histories and stories- Reading Proud- for its third year. This half day event includes talks from poets, children’s writers, historians and more! Come for some, come for all (we hope you decide to do the latter!), you’ll be sure to hear some excellent talks from briliant writers.
We’ll be holding Reading Proud at Nottingham Central Library, so more of you lovely people can attend. The venue is wheelchair accessible, has accessible and gender neutral toilets, baby changing facilities, a children’s library and immersive room, and a cafe. There will be breaks between talks, a stall to buy books (as well as a chance to check out the library catalogue!), and opportunity to ask our wonderful writers questions.
The full programme and running times will be published soon, but as a sneak peak, here’s a sample of who we’ve got for this year:
Sacha Coward (he/him) has worked in museums and heritage for over 10 years. For the past three years, he has been freelancing as an historian, public speaker, tour guide and researcher. He has run LGBTQ+ focused tours for museums, cemeteries, archives, and cities around the world. Sacha is passionate about queer history, mythology, folklore and storytelling in all their many forms. ‘Queer As Folklore’ is his first book.
Lalah-Simone Springer (she/they) is a working class poet and speculative fiction writer. Lalah’s debut poetry collection, An Aviary of Common Birds was published by Broken Sleep Books in August 2023.
Musih Tedji Xaviere (she/her) is a Cameroonian fiction writer based in the UK. Her debut novel, These Letters End in Tears, won the 2021 Pontas and JJ Bola Emerging Writers Prize.
Olivia Douglass (they/them) is a British-Nigerian writer, poet and artist. They are the winner of The Guardian and 4th Estate 4th Write Prize 2022 with their short story ‘Ink’. They are the author of two poetry pamphlets, Unruly Blood with Little Betty Press (2024) and Slow Tongue, self-published (2018).
Troy Jenkinson (he/him) is an Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging Specialist. A former headteacher, he wrote his first children’s book in response to bullies to give a voice to children with same-sex parents. He now works with a range of schools, trusts, corporate companies and charities (nationally & internationally) to empower staff to strengthen their own sense of belonging.