books

Late last year, I was doing some editing for my old friend, queer rights activist and all-round good guy, Rod Goodbun, who I met as part of the first Queensland Pride Collective back in 1990. He mentioned he’d like to create an anthology of stories from a wide spectrum of queer voices, and that he’d like to call it Queersland. “Great title!” I said. “Let me know if you need some help editing.”

I mentioned Roddy’s idea to Matthew Wengert, the publisher at AndAlso Books that I’d worked with to create my first social history anthology Bjelke Blues, and he was keen. He also suggested we get an Arts Queensland grant to cover some of the costs and to enable us to pay contributors.

Fast forward past the arduous and odious days spend getting the grant together (that’s another book on its own!) and our great good fortune in securing funding for the project and… WHAM! We were on! Thank you Arts Queensland.

The process of collecting voices for the anthology began, with the aim of giving voice to as many of the different colours of the Queer QLD rainbow as possible, as well as covering some of QLD’s queer history (we have a story set during WW2) and the length and breadth and of this huge state.

An old photo of me and my old friend Stevie who has his first story in the collection!

TIPS FOR CREATING AN ANTHOLOGY

Here are a few tips for people wanting to create their own anthology around a topic/theme or subject.

COLLECT CONTRIBUTIONS

For Queersland both Roddy and I had a number of contacts who were either writers and/or had a good story to tell. We wanted to showcase established writers but also provide a forum for new and emerging voices and to record some of the history behind the queer movement that arose during and post the Bjelke-Petersen regime. We also wanted to ensure we had a strong First Nations voice and voices from cultures other than white Australia. Most importantly, we aimed to include a variety of writing and art.

Queersland includes poetry, song lyrics, memoirs, personal essays, fiction, photographs and artwork. After our initial call out, we realised we had some important voices missing, eg Transwomen, so searched for these missing voices. Luckily, in my teaching capacity I meet lots of lovely people in workshops, so found a few of our missing pieces in my classes and leapt upon them with the lure of publication. For Bjelke Blues, I’d put an advertisement up on Facebook to gather extra pieces, but we didn’t need to do that for Queersland. We were also lucky enough to score a foreword from one of Queersland’s most successful sons, Darren Hayes, who grew up in Logan but went on to international music stardom with Savage Garden.

SELECT & EDIT CONTRIBUTIONS

Most of the stories were requested which took away the need for any rejections – the worst bit of doing anthologies. So once we had our stories in, both Roddy and I rolled up our sleeves and helped each writer polish their contribution until it shone. Stories from established writers like David Kelly, Kris Kneen, Kelly Parry and Steve MinOn, were a breeze. Other stories needed a bit more tidying, or tone adjustment, and others from brand new writers attempting their first pieces, needed a lot of back and forth. Our story from Aunty Dawn Daylight, Blak Queer pioneer and respected elder, was a longer process, with my friend Sitara interviewing Dawn over a few sessions, then typing up the notes, which I then shaped into the story you’ll find in the book. Most stories took more than one edit, so it was a long process, but worth it in the end. And, thanks to the grant, each contributor was paid.

ORDER STORIES

When ordering stories, we decided chronology would be the main shaping force of the collection, with oldest stories first. I wanted a light touch and a sense of humour for the opening piece though so chose a short pithy memoir piece from Evalyn Eatdith where she tells someone, “Buy a girl a drink before asking personal questions”. This made sense to me, as Roddy and I had bought the drinks for all the contributors and inside the book was the answer to very personal questions.

In ordering collections/anthologies too, I always like to consider light and darkness, making sure any heaviness is tempered with a lighter story. We also wanted to have a good balance of masculine, feminine and non-binary voices. Our closing story is a timeless modern metaphor that resonates beautifully with Kris Kneen’s piece early in the book. Finding these echoes and resonance between stories is one of the joys of creating anthologies. Using these echoes and patterns to help order your stories also helps the collection feel more satisfying for the reader.

SELECT IMAGES

We were very lucky to have images from artists like Jackie Ryan, Garett Huxley, Ivan Dyke-Nunn andAnge Bailey. When inserting images, a lot had to be sorted out directly with the printer, as good quality white paper is needed for the best reproduction of the artworks. This limited the number of images we could use and also where they could be placed.

ANTHOLOGY LAYOUT

After several rounds of proofreading – Thank you Tuesday! Thank you Georgina! – the anthology then went to our designer, the wonderful Susi Blackwell, who was also an inaugural member of the 1990 QLD Pride Collective. Susi designed an eye-catching cover and wrangled with the interior and fonts, and everything involved in making the book a pleasant reading experience. If you are creating an anthology with a large trade publisher, then all this will be handled for you.

Being from FNQ I wanted a cassowary on the cover – colourful, uniquely Queensland and a little bit scary – but a bush turkey will do!

MARKETING AND EVENTS

Luckily, we’ve been able to use grant funding to employ someone to help with organising our Queersland launches. The book is being released at the first launch in Brisbane at Come to Daddy’s on Friday 5^th September – yup, not long! FULLY BOOKED.

This is followed by a Melbourne launch at Hares and Hyenas at the Victorian Pride Centre on 18 September.

On October 11, 2- 4 pm, we’ll be at Rosetta Books as part of the Rangebow Festival.

The happy crowd at the Bjelke Blues launch.

A fabulous panel led by Steve MinOn follows at the Brisbane Writers Festival on October 12 and then we’re at Avid Reader on Sunday 9 November at 3pm as part of the Melt Festival.

On 24 November we will be in Sydney at Qtopia for our NSW event, and to top them all off we have two events at Woodford Folk Festival right over the new year! WOWZA!

It would be wonderful to see you at any of these. Do come along and say hi!

Along with all these events comes marketing through reviews, interviews and articles etc. Whatever your anthology topic is, focus on that audience and do your own launches and talks/panels of voices from the collection at venues where you will find your readers.

I really enjoy creating these social history anthologies about aspects of Queensland that are often hidden or overlooked. It is a pleasure to provide a platform for voices that aren’t often heard and a publishing opportunity for emerging writers. I also get to publish stories of my own in them. Bonus! You can buy a copy of Queersland HERE – available now for preorder and from all good bookstores after September 5.

Have you got an idea for anthology? What topic, group or theme deserves multiple voices? What missing part of history needs to be recorded? Bear witness for your tribe.

I hope these tips will help you get started! Having a grant helps, but we didn’t have one for Bjelke Blues and the process was the same, just less money to play with!

In the meantime do get dressed up fancy and come along to celebrate Queersland with us at any of the events above!

Lots of love

Edwina 🙂 xx

Will I Ever Be Who I Am - A memoir by Gay Liddington

I first met Gay Liddington when she attended one of my Relax and Write Retreats at Burleigh Heads back in 2019. From the first time I heard about her story of courage and resilience in overcoming a troubled childhood of family violence and abuse, I knew it was a story that HAD to be told. I’m always banging on about the importance of getting those stories that won’t leave us alone out of our heads and onto the page, because, to paraphrase Salman Rushdie, we need to take control of the stories we tell ourselves about the past, or otherwise let them forever shape our futures.

When we claim our stories and start writing them, magic begins.

Suddenly the stories are not who we are, but what we make of them. We begin to believe that we can change and shape futures different from the darkness of the past. We learn we have power over the stories, that we can shape them into the story that we WANT to tell, not just what we NEED to let go of. We write and rewrite and polish until we realise we’ve done it! We’ve created something beautiful from the pain that used to define us. Now it is the beauty that defines us. Beauty of our own making.

This is what Gay has done with her brave and compelling new memoir Will I Ever Be Who I Am.

Not long after we first met, I was looking for someone to do catering for a new retreat centre where I was hoping to run writing retreats. Gay put her hand up and we’ve been great retreat buddies ever since. She cooked, I edited and gave advice and slowly over a number of years Gay’s book took shape. I also took shape, my belly growing bigger with each one of Gay’s delicious sweet treats I couldn’t resist. There’s a reason her partner Phil is known as “Tummy Big”.

Gay, her daughter Kylie and friend June with the book launch table laden with goodies!!

Gay was already a writer, a journalist writing feature articles for The Hinterland Times. Now they’re writing stories about her! Here’s the feature article (pages 4 and 5)they published recently about Gay’s book.

Gay had been writing and performing poetry, stories and comedy for decades, but this was her first concerted attempt at writing her memoir. She wanted justice, she said. And to not go to her grave with secrets weighing heavy on her soul.

Writing our stories frees us and is a safe way to right the wrongs done to us, especially when we were children and had no voice, no power.

Gay and Leah Dodds, owner of Rosetta Books at Gay’s launch.

Gay has always been a “Do It Yourself” kind of person, so she didn’t want to pursue traditional publishing. Instead, she bought a design template from Book Design Templates and figured out how to do the layout herself. She then worked with Paradigm Print Media to develop a cover and have copies printed. Her cover image is her own concept, taken from a photo of her at 17 when she’d first escaped to the army. A photo her abusive step-father had torn to pieces, and her loving mother had glued back together again.

Recently we launched Gay’s powerful memoir at the Maleny Neighbourhood Centre, where, true to character, Gay donated a dollar from every book to support the programs run at the centre to support women, children and others affected by family violence. What a day it was! After months of rainy weekends, the sun shone brightly all afternoon as we sat in the outdoor covered area, close to the Serenity Grief Garden. Gay had made enough cakes and biscuits to feed an army, allocating five pieces per person!

A crowd of friends, loved ones, retreaters and book lovers cheered Gay on as we talked about what it took to transform her memories into a compelling and empowering story. As Gay read excerpts from her book, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. I was already teary from the introductions, so very proud of Gay and all she’s achieved.

We were honoured to have Judith Munday OAM, who was a young officer when Gay first joined the army in 1969, officially launch the book. Judith was there to pick up the pieces and help this broken young woman take her first steps into selfhood. It was only fitting she was also there to celebrate the strong, fearless, creative woman Gay’s become.

Gay’s army memorabilia and the original torn photo.

Gay’s memoir is available for sale HERE on my website, and at Rosetta Books Maleny and Annie’s Books at Peregian. Also coming to Amazon soon for international readers.

There are many paths to publication. Gay’s path was perfect for her, the angels she has such faith in lighting the way before her step by step all the way to her magical day of celebration. Which path will you take?

Here to help you find your way!

Lots of love

Edwina xx