#hannah gadsby the queer review

[thequeereview]

Exclusive Interview: stand-up comedian Mx. Dahlia Belle on Hannah Gadsby's Gender Agenda Netflix special "I've never met anyone as sensitive as a straight dude - they'll cry over anything!"

Portland, Oregon based stand-up comedian Mx. Dahlia Belle is one of the standout performers in an exciting lineup of seven genderqueer comics in Hannah Gadsby’s Gender Agenda, curated and hosted by Gadsby, shot at London’s iconic Alexandra Palace last year. In October 2021, Belle wrote an open letter published in The Guardian to one of the comedy heroes of her youth entitled, “Dear Dave…

[bethly126]

Kate’s Favorite Books of the Year!

This has been a wild year of reading for me! I have done so much of it for fun! During COVID, I lost a bit of my desire to pick up books. There is still a bit of that resistance there, but with a combination of some great series, letting my whims take me, excellent recommendations from people in my life, and audiobooks, Ive managed to get back to being a reader! Alright! Let’s do this! Best…

[vaspider]

Hi! I’m in my early 20’s and a baby gay and i was wondering if you could help me understand the nuances of a particular issue (or point me towards recourses to find some answers). I’ve heard that as an afab enby i shouldn’t be using the f slur because historically it has been used to attack/demean gay men, but i’ve also seen (mostly on tumblr) a push by the queer community to reclaim the word by any queer identity. I want to be inclusive and intersectional and not insult people to the best of my ability so my question is: can i participate in the reclamation of the f slur or should i leave this word to queer men? (I’m also not clear on wether it’s just cis men, includes trans men/amab folks, etc). You don’t have to answer but thanks for your time regardless!

You can do whatever you want forever.

Seriously, though - whoever is telling you that you can't reclaim a particular slur because that doesn't get used against people like you should come review my history sometime. I've had faggot yelled at me (often out of moving cars or in connection with physical abuse) more times than I can count. They need to talk to Hannah Gadsby, who talks in Nanette about a man who pushed her, thinking she was a faggot and then found out she was a woman, realized she was a "lady faggot" and thus outside his definition of woman and able to be beaten up... so he did.

That kind of "I have decided that people like you haven't been hurt by this so you can't touch this word" cop nonsense is genuinely harmful. We need to bring back the 90s energy of "it takes all of us to take the sting out of a word" where gay men showed up to lesbian marches with "fags for dykes" signs.

This infighting over terms is fucking cop garbage meant to divide us. It's bullshit. If you find strength in calling yourself a fag, a dykefag, a fagdyke, a ladyfag, a girl homo, a lesbo, whatever the fuck, it doesn't fucking matter.

This "no one uses that against people like you" bullshit is just that. Ignore it freely, because it's utter nonsense on many many levels.

[qnewsau]

Queer recommended books to read this summer

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/queer-recommended-books-to-read-this-summer/

Queer recommended books to read this summer

The Brisbane-based community group Queer Readers share their recommended top books to read this summer. 

Whether you are looking for a sweet summer romance or a sizzling page-turner, Queer Readers has you covered for the holiday period! Queer Readers is exactly what it says on the label; a group of LGBTQIA+ people who love queer books, love reading queer authors, and love talking about the books we’re reading.

Here are our top picks for your summer reading. 

The Killing Code

This was a favourite at our November meeting, where the theme was ‘Mystery and Thrillers’. 

The Killing Code is Australian author Ellie Marney’s WWII murder mystery love story.

Set in 1943 North America, this is an intriguing tale of secrets, class, race, and discovery by a group of young women code breakers in a historical manor house.

Think Bletchley Park. Think Nancy Drew. There are plenty of twists and the suspense is sure to keep you interested. Highly recommended for a relaxing summer read.

The Brink

In a similar but slightly darker vein, Holden Sheppard’s award-winning second novel The Brink tells the story of a group of teenagers.

They find themselves in a world of trouble when their ‘Schoolies-week’ party plans go terribly wrong.

Left isolated on a remote island with a murderer on the loose, this is an explosive page-turner that also touches on themes of friendship, self-acceptance, abuse, masculinity, and love.

If you like Lord Of The Flies, this one is for you!

Aristotle and Dante Dive Into the Waters of the World

Perhaps the most universally enjoyed book we’ve read in recent times is the astonishing follow-up to Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s first Aristotle And Dante novel.

The sequel continues with the same tenderness, wit and romance that saw us fall in love with the two boys in the first novel. The original book has now been made into a cinema adaptation. 

Ten Steps to Nanette

Two books from this year that are definitely on our radar after rave reviews are Hannah Gadsby’s Ten Steps To Nanette.

The frank and moving memoir of Hannah’s struggles for self-acceptance, dealing with and coming through trauma, and finding love.

It’s beautifully written, and if you prefer audiobooks, you can hear Hannah telling their story in their own words. 

Interested in joining Queer Readers? 

This free, inclusive group meets at 6:30pm on the third Monday of each month at the New Farm library meeting room.

The group size is usually 10-15 people and ages range from early 20s to members in their 80s.

Everyone is welcome and all opinions about the books we read are valued: be prepared to discuss, laugh, critique, criticise, and generally revel in being with a like-minded crew. 

For more information about Queer Readers visit their website or email qreaders@gmail.com

For the latest LGBTIQA+ Sister Girl and Brother Boy news, entertainment, community stories in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Check out our latest magazines or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

[popculty]

52 Films by Women: 2020 Edition

Another annual challenge complete!

Last year, I focused on diversifying my list. This year I kept that intention but focused on watching more non-American films and films from the 20th century. Specifically, I sought out Agnès Varda’s entire filmography, after her death in 2019. (I was not disappointed - What a filmmaking legend we lost.) 

I also kept a film log for the first time and have included some of my thoughts on several films from that log. I made a point of including reviews both positive and negative, because I think it’s important to acknowledge the variability and breadth of the canon, so as not to put every film directed by a woman on a pedestal. (Although movies directed by women must clear a much higher bar to be greenlit, meaning generally higher quality...But that’s an essay for another day :)

* = directed by a woman of color

bold = fave

1. The Rhythm Section (2020) dir. Reed Morano - Not as good as it could have been, given Morano’s proven skill behind the camera, but also not nearly as bad as the critics made it out to be. And unbelievably refreshing to see a female revenge story not driven by sexual assault or the loss of a husband/child.

2. Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962) dir. Agnès Varda - If you ever wanted to take a real-time tour of Paris circa 1960, this is the film for you.

3. Little Women (2019) dir. Greta Gerwig - Still my favorite Little Women adaptation. I will re-watch it every year and cry.

4. Varda by Agnès (2019) dir. Agnès Varda & Didier Rouget

5. Booksmart (2019) dir. Olivia Wilde - An instant classic high school comedy romp that subverts all the gross tropes of its 1980s predecessors.

6. Girls of the Sun (2018) dir. Eva Husson

7. Blue My Mind (2017) dir. Lisa Brühlmann

8. Portrait of a Lady On Fire (2019) dir. Céline Sciamma - Believe the hype. This film is a master thesis on the female gaze, and also just really effing gorgeous.

9. Belle Epine (2010) dir. Rebecca Zlotowski

10. Vamps (2012) dir. Amy Heckerling - With Krysten Ritter and Alicia Silverstone as modern-day vampires, I was so ready for this movie. But it feels like a bad stage play or a sit-com that’s missing a laugh-track. Bummer.

11. *Birds of Prey (2020) dir. Cathy Yan - Where has this movie been all our lives?? Skip the next onslaught of Snyder-verse grim-darkery and give me two more of these STAT! 

12. She’s Missing (2019) dir. Alexandra McGuinness

13. The Mustang (2019) dir. Laure de Clermont-Tonnere - Trigger warning for the “protagonist” repeatedly punching a horse in the chest. I noped right out of there.

14. Monster (2003) dir. Patty Jenkins – I first watched this movie when I was probably too young and haven’t revisited it since. The rape scene traumatized me as a kid, but as an adult I appreciate how that trauma is not the center of the movie, or even of Aileen’s life. Everyone still talks about how Charlize “went ugly” for this role, but the biggest transformation here isn’t aesthetic, it’s physical – the way Theron replicates Wuernos’ mannerisms, way of speaking, and physicality. That’s why she won the Oscar. I also love that Jenkins calls the film “Monster” (which everyone labels Aileen), but then actually uses it to tell the story of how she fell in love with a woman when she was at her lowest, and that saved her. That’s kind of beautiful, and I’m glad I re-watched it so that I could see the story in that light, instead of the general memory I had of it being a good, feel-bad movie. It’s so much more than that.

15. Water Lilies (2007) dir. Céline Sciamma – Sciamma’s screenwriting and directorial debut, the first in her trilogy on youth, is as painfully beautiful as its sequels (Tomboy and Girlhood). It’s also one of the rare films that explores the overlap of queerness and girl friendships.

16. The Trouble with Angels (1966) dir. Ida Lupino – Movies about shenanigan-based female friendships are such rare delights. Rosalind Russel is divine as Mother Superior, and Hayley Mills as “scathingly brilliant” as the pranks she plays on her. Ida Lupino’s skill as an editor only enhances her directing, providing some truly iconic visual gags to complement dialogue snappy enough for Gilmore Girls. 

17. Vagabond (1985) dir. Agnès Varda – Shot with a haunting realism, this film has no qualms about its heroine’s inevitable, unceremonious death, which it opens with, matter-of-factly, before retracing her final (literal) steps to the road-side ditch she ends up in. (I’m partly convinced said heroine was the inspiration for Sarah Manning in Orphan Black.)

18. One Sings, The Other Doesn’t (1977) dir. Agnès Varda – Probably my favorite classic Varda, this film feels incredibly personal. It’s essentially a love story about two best friends with very different lives. For an indie made in the ‘70s, the diversity, scope, and themes of the film are impressive. Even if the second half a drags a bit, the first half is absolute perfection, engaging the viewer immediately, and clipping along, sprinkling in some great original songs that were way progressive for their time (about abortion, female bodily autonomy, etc) and could still be considered “bangers” today.

19. Emma (2020) dir. Autumn de Wilde

20. Black Panthers (1969) dir. Agnès Varda

21. Into the Forest (2016) dir. Patricia Rozema - When the world was ending (i.e. the pandemic hit) this was the first movie I turned to - a quiet, meditative story of two sisters (Elliot Page and Evan Rachel Wood) surviving off the land after a sudden global blackout. Four years later, it’s still one of my favorite book-to-screen adaptations. I fondly remember speaking with director Patricia Rozema at the 2016 Chicago Critics Film Festival after a screening, her love for the source material and desire to “get it right” so apparent. I assured her then, and reaffirm now, that she really did.

22. City of Trees (2019) dir. Alexandra Swarens

23. Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020) dir. Eliza Hittmann - To call this a harrowing and deeply personal journey of a sixteen-year-old who must cross state lines to get an abortion would be accurate, but incomplete. It is a story so much bigger than that, about the myriad ways women’s bodies and boundaries are constantly violated.

24. Paradise Hills (2019) dir. Alice Waddington

25. *Eve’s Bayou (1996) dir. Kasi Lemmons – I’ve been meaning to watch Kasi Lemmons’ directorial debut for many years now, and I’m so glad I finally have, because it fully deserves its icon status, beyond being one of the first major films directed by a black woman. Baby Jurnee Smollett's talent was immediately recognizable, and she has reminded us of it in Birds of Prey and Lovecraft Country this year. If merit was genuinely a factor for Oscar contenders, she would have taken home gold at eleven years old. Beasts of the Southern Wild has been one of my all-time favorites, but now I realize that most of my appreciation for that movie actually goes to Lemmons for blazing the trail with her story of a young black girl from the bayou first. It’s also a surprisingly dark story about memory and abuse and familial relationships that cross lines - really gutsy and surprising themes, especially for the ‘90s.

26. Blow the Man Down (2019) dir. Bridget Savage Cole & Danielle Krudy - Come and get your sea shanty fix!

27. Touchy Feely (2013) dir. Lynn Shelton - R.I.P. :(

28. Hannah Gadsby: Douglas (2020) dir. Madeleine Parry - If you thought Gadsby couldn’t follow up 2018′s sensational Nanette with a comedy special just as sharp and hilarious, you would have been sorely mistaken.

29. Girlhood (2013) dir. Céline Sciamma

30. Breathe (2014) dir. Mélanie Laurent

31. *A Dry White Season (1989) dir. Euzhan Palcy

32. Laggies (2014) dir. Lynn Shelton

33. *The Old Guard (2020) dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood – Everything I’ve ever wanted in an action movie: Immortal gays, Charlize Theron wielding a labrys (battle axe), kinetic fight choreography I haven’t seen since the last Bond movie…Watched it twice, then devoured the comics it was adapted from, and I gotta say: in the hands of black women, it eclipses the source material. Cannot wait for the just-announced sequel.

34. Morvern Callar (2002) dir. Lynn Ramsay

35. Shirley (2020) dir. Josephine Decker

36. *Radioactive (2019) dir. Marjane Satrapi – The story is obviously well worth telling and the narrative structure – weaving in the future consequences of Curie’s discoveries – is clever, but a bit awkwardly executed and overly manipulative. There are glimpses of real brilliance throughout, but it feels as if the director’s vision was not fully realized, to my great disappointment. Nonetheless, I appreciated seeing Marie Curie's story being told by a female director and embodied by the always wonderful Rosamund Pike.

37. *The Half of It (2020) dir. Alice Wu - I feel like a real scrooge for saying this, but this movie did nothing for me. Nothing about it felt fresh, authentic or relatable. A real disappointment from the filmmaker behind the wlw classic Saving Face.

38. Mouthpiece (2018) dir. Patricia Rozema - I am absolutely floored. One of those films that makes you fall in love with the art form all over again. Patricia Rozema continues to prove herself one of the most creatively ambitious and insightful directors of our time, with this melancholic meditation on maternal grief and a woman’s duality.

39. Summerland (2020) dir. Jessica Swale - The rare period wlw love story that is not a) all-white or b) tragedy porn. Just lovely.

40. *The Last Thing He Wanted (2020) dir. Dee Rees – As rumored, a mess. Even by the end, I still couldn’t tell you who any of the characters are. Dee, we know you’re so much better than this! (see: Mudbound, Pariah)

41. *Cuties (2020) dir. Maïmouna Doucouré – I watched this film to 1) support a black woman director who has been getting death threats for her work and 2) see what all the fuss is about. While I do think there were possibly some directorial choices that could have saved quite a bit of the pearl-clutching, overall, I didn’t find it overly-exploitative or gross, as many (who obviously haven’t actually watched the film) have labeled it. It certainly does give me pause, though, and makes me wonder whether children can ever be put in front of a camera without it exploiting or causing harm to them in some way. It also makes one consider the blurry line between being a critique versus being an example. File this one under complicated, for sure.

42. A Call to Spy (2019) Lydia Dean Pilcher – An incredible true story of female spies during WWII that perfectly satisfied my itch for British period drama/spy thriller and taught me so much herstory I didn’t know.

43. Kajillionaire (2020) dir. Miranda July - I was lucky enough to attend the (virtual) premiere of this film, followed by an insightful cast/director Q&A, which only made me appreciate it more. July's offbeat dark comedy about a family of con artists is queerer and more heartfelt than it has any right to be, and a needed reprieve in a year of almost entirely white wlw stories. The family's shenanigans are the hook, but it's the budding relationship between Old Dolio (an almost unrecognizable Evan Rachel Wood) and aspiring grifter Melanie (the luminous Gina Rodriguez) that is the heart of the story.

44. Misbehaviour (2020) dir. Philippa Lowthorpe – Again, teaching me herstory I didn’t know, about how the Women’s Liberation Movement stormed the 1970 Miss World Pageant. Keira Knightley and Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s characters have a conversation in a bathroom at the end of the film that perfectly eviscerates well-meaning yet ignorant white feminism, without ever pitting women against each other - a feat I didn’t think was possible. I also didn’t think it was possible to critique the male gaze without showing it (*ahem Cuties, Bombshell, etc*), but this again, invents a way to do it. Bless women directors.

45. *All In: The Fight for Democracy (2020) dir. Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortes – 2020’s 13th. Thank god for Stacey Abrams, that is all.

46. *The 40-Year-Old Version (2020) dir. Radha Blank – This scene right here? I felt that in my soul. This whole film is so good and funny and heartfelt and relatable to any artist trying to walk that tightrope of “making it” while not selling their soul to make it. My only initial semi-note was that it’s a little long, but after hearing Radha Blank talk about how she fought for the two-hour run-time as a way of reclaiming space for older black women, I take it back. She’s right: Let black women take up space. Let her movie be as long as she wants it to be. GOOD FOR HER.

47. Happiest Season (2020) dir. Clea Duvall - Hoooo boy. What was marketed as the first lesbian Christmas rom-com is actually a horror movie for anyone who’s ever had to come out. Throw in casual racism and a toxic relationship treated as otp, and it’s YIKES on so many levels. Aubrey Plaza, Dan Levy, and an autistic-coded Jane are the only (underused) highlights.

48. *Monkey Beach (2020) dir. Loretta Todd

49. *Little Chief (2020) dir. Erica Tremblay – A short film part of the 2020 Red Nation Film Festival, it’s a perfect eleven minutes that I wish had gone on longer, if only to bask in Lily Gladstone in a leading role.

50. First Cow (2019) dir. Kelly Reichardt – I know Kelly Reichardt’s style, so I’ll admit-- even as I was preparing for an excellent film, I was also reaching for my phone, planning on only half paying attention during all the inevitable 30-second shots of grass blowing in the wind. (And yes, there are plenty of those.) But twenty minutes in, my phone was set aside and forgotten, as I am getting sucked into this beautiful story about two frontiersman trying to live their best domestic life.There is only one word to describe this film and that is: PURE. I’ve never seen such a tender platonic relationship between men on screen before, and it’s not lost on me that it took a woman to show us that tenderness. Reichardt gives us two men brought together by fate, and kept together by a shared dream and the simple pleasure of not being alone in such a hard world; two men who spend their days cooking, trapping, baking, and dreaming of a better life; two men who don’t say much, but feel everything for each other. The world would be a much better place if men showed us this kind of vulnerability and friendship toward each other. Oh, and it’s also a brutal take-down of capitalism and the myth of the American Dream!

51. Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) dir. Patty Jenkins - My most-anticipated film for the past two years was...well, a mixed bag, to say the least. Too many thoughts on it for a blog post, so stay tuned for the upcoming podcast ep where we go all in ;)

52. *Selah and the Spades (2019) dir. Tayarisha Poe

I hope this gives you some ideas to kick off your new year with a resolution to support more female directors!

What were your favorite women-directed movies of last year? Let me know in the tags, comments, or asks!

[vulnerablea]

There are a lot of brilliant parts of this critical review of Hannah Gadsby’s work by Yasmin Nair. In the following excerpt, Nair rightfully calls attention to one of the problematic ways in which Gadsby critiques Picasso:

It’s Picasso’s relationship to his lover Marie-Thérèse Walter that most incites Gadsby’s rage and fury. Gadsby’s anger is marked by the sort of moralizing that seems more fit for an arch-conservative—she spits out the fact that he was married, horrors, with a Bible-thumper’s scorn for infidelity. Her contention that he had “sex with an underage girl” makes it seem like Picasso had raped a child. In a strictly legal sense, though, even putting aside all the issues we might have with the law’s definition of “underage,” this is not actually true. In France, what we might call the age of consent was 13 in 1947, when the two met, and it is now 15 (although, as with all things French, the matter is...complicated). In Australia, where Netflix filmed Nanette, the age is either 16 or 17, depending on where you are. In the United States, the legal age for sex ranges from 16 to 18.

Putting aside the historical inaccuracy of Gadsby’s comment about sex with “underage” women (and acknowledging that not all intergenerational sex is unproblematic): it’s really fucking weird to see a queer person be so invested in arbitrary distinctions between legal and illegal sexual behaviors. Gadsby herself points out, early in Nanette, that homosexuality was against the law until 1997 in Tasmania, that she grew up knowing that 70 percent of Tasmanians believed that homosexuality was wrong, and that she had internalized that logic. Certainly, the combination of internalized homophobia and shame is a deadly problem that afflicts millions of queer people, and we cannot expect everyone, especially the young and vulnerable, to magically turn into Queer Superheroes who dismantle such violent impositions of sexuality with a copy of Gender Trouble and a sassy flick of the wrist. But the idea that laws about sexuality are only created to keep an entire population in fear is literally the foundation of her entire show: she traces her own abuse, her sense of a lack of self-worth back to that legal construction of illegality.

Gays and lesbians have, historically, been hounded, “treated,” demonized, brutalized, and even killed precisely because “laws” everywhere, including those defining sexual consent, have sought to demarcate their bodies and actions as illegal. Given this history, the sight of a lesbian—an urbane, cosmopolitan, adult lesbian who is surely not unaware of critical approaches to sex and the law, or with the long history of queer resistance to such laws, so vociferously (and incorrectly, even in the legal sense) denouncing sex between a man and a woman is incongruous and disheartening. Gadsby makes much of the self-hatred she felt as a result of knowing that the vast majority of Tasmanians hated people like her—but she fails to understand (or willfully refuses to see) how laws don’t emerge from reality but create and shape it. One would think that someone so concerned with laws determining legality and illegality on the axes of gender and sexuality, and how wrong they are would at least question the idea of an “underage girl.”

There’s a lot going on here that follows more clearly in the context of the whole article, but I really appreciate this particular deconstruction because it speaks to the frenzied moral panic that white and western/ized people have about the arbitrarily-marked ‘age of consent.’ Rather than actually attending to the nuances of consent and development (keeping in mind that norms around ‘maturity’ and ‘development’ are also based in ableist and otherwise oppressive structural frameworks), even other groups like queer people, who have been so subject to the moralizing logics of cisheteropatriarchy, are all too ready to balk at intergenerational relationships. (To be clear, as Nair is being, of course these kinds of relationships can be abusive, as can any relationships, but to treat that as a given based on a legal marker is problematic.) There are legitimate critiques of Picasso, but this (along with most of the rest of Gadsby’s critique, including her erasure of women Cubist artists) is really not.

(As a corollary, it’s also just very frustrating to see 16-19 year olds or whatever treated as if they are ‘babies,’ a common tendency I see in current queer discourse. I also see this extended to all people under 25! Really maddening and deeply problematic for any conception of youth rights.)

[sustainhealthmagazine]

Southbank Centre announces it's new series exploring mental health in literature

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Southbank Centre today announces its most jam-packed literature season to date with more than 35 events taking place from September - December 2019 across its three auditoriums (Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room) as well as in its National Poetry Library, Hayward Gallery and foyer spaces.

The season sees an expanded programme of non-fiction talks and discussions with leading writers and thinkers on topics from atheism to parenting to talking to strangers. As part of the non-fiction programme, Southbank Centre is delighted to launch a new series of events Reading the Mind exploring mental health and wellbeing through literature. The series begins in September with award-winning writers and qualified nurses Nathan Filer and Christie Watson, in conversation together for the first time, and continues into 2020 with events in the Spring and Summer seasons.   

Louis Theroux © Paul Mark Mitchell; Nadiya Hussain © Dan Kennedy; Sara Pascoe © Sara Pascoe; Lenny Henry © Jack Lawson

Alongside Anthony Anaxagorou, Raymond Antrobus, Nihal Arthanayake, Liz Berry, Adam Buxton, Leo Boix, Anne Carson, Russell T Davies, Richard Dawkins, Inua Ellams, Salma El-Wardany, Nathan Filer, Hannah Gadsby, Salena Godden, Will Harris, Lenny Henry, Lisa Jewell, Etgar Keret, Mariam Khan, Zaffar Kunial, Theresa Lola, Sabrina Mahfouz, Hollie McNish, Nico Muhly, Paul Muldoon, Randall Munroe, Daljit Nagra, Courttia Newland, Joo Yeon Park, Bobby Parker, Sara Pascoe, Philippa Perry, Antoni Porowski, Yara Rodrigues Fowler, Luzia Sauma, Joelle Taylor, Christie Watson and more

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Alongside this, the bumper season features leading authors discussing new works of fiction, TV personalities and comedians reflecting on their careers with the launch of new books, live readings, panel discussions and new creative writing and poetry courses. In addition, Southbank Centre continues its commitment to present the best in spoken word and poetry with events and exhibitions curated by its National Poetry Library, the largest collection of modern poetry in the world, and the continuation of Out-Spoken’s year-long residency.

Autumn 2019 Season highlights include:​

Talks and in conversation events with leading writers and thinkers including psychotherapist Philippa Perry, science writer Richard Dawkins, cartoonist Randall Munroe, writer Will Self and journalist Malcolm Gladwell

Appearances from TV personalities including documentary filmmaker Louis Theroux, Queer Eye’s Antoni Porowski and The Great British Bake Off’s Nadiya Hussain who launch new books

Comedians Richard Ayoade, in conversation with Adam Buxton, Sara Pascoe and Lenny Henry discussing new books whilst Hannah Gadsby brings her live show Douglas to Royal Festival Hall

London exclusive appearances from award-winning fiction writers Malorie Blackman, Etgar Keret and Celeste Ng

The continuation of Out-Spoken’s year-long residency at Southbank Centre with monthly masterclasses and live poetry and music nights featuring Anthony Anaxagorou, Hollie McNish, Liz Berry, Zaffar Kunial, Salena Godden and more

London Review of Books celebrating its 40th anniversary with an exclusive, collaborative literary-music event featuring Anne Carson, Nico Muhly, Paul Muldoon and guests

The return of National Poetry Library Lates and new free exhibitions in Southbank Centre’s National Poetry Library

Schools National Poetry Day Live featuring workshops and live poetry readings from Theresa Lola, Raymond Antrobus, SLAMbassadors and more

The return of the Booker Prize Shortlist Readings

The return of Polari, London’s leading LGBTQ+ literary salon featuring screenwriter and TV producer Russell T Davies and writer Lisa Jewell

Readings, performance and discussion from contributors to new anthologies Smashing It: Working Class Artists on Life, Art and Making It Happen, Un Nuevo Sol: British Latinx Writers and It’s Not About the Burqa: Muslim Women on Faith, Feminism, Sexuality and Race

New six week autumn courses in poetry and creative writing

Southbank Centre’s thirteenth London Literature Festival featuring 11 days of talks, readings, poetry and performance, opening with Poetry International (programme to be announced)

Ted Hodgkinson, Head of Literature and Spoken Word at Southbank Centre said: "It's a thrill to present an Autumn Season brimming with big personalities, the world's most exciting literary talents and the very best of the poetry and spoken word scene in London and beyond. From striking up conversations with strangers to unlocking the mysteries of the human mind, our expanded array of talks with leading thinkers and cultural commentators promises to provoke and challenge. Appearances from beloved storytellers alongside frank reflections on life from celebrated comedians will delight and disarm in equal measure, in a season that will make us think, make us laugh and bring us together.”

Tickets go on sale to Southbank Centre Members on Tuesday 25 June and to the General Public on Wednesday 26 June with the exception of Will Self on a Life in Writing, London Literature Festival and Poetry International which will go on sale at a later date. Hannah Gadsby: Douglas and Malorie Blackman: Crossfire are already on sale. For more information please visit the Southbank Centre website HERE.

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Further Programme Detail

TALKS AND IN CONVERSATION EVENTS - NON-FICTION

Southbank Centre expands its non-fiction programme this season with writers, thinkers and experts exploring key issues and topics in today’s society in London exclusive events. Science writer Richard Dawkins puts forward his argument for atheism as he discusses his new book Outgrowing God (QEH, 22 Sep); American cartoonist and creator of webcomic xkcd Randall Munroe presents his latest book, How To, offering audiences an entertaining insight into the science and technology behind the everyday (RFH, 7 Oct); journalist Malcolm Gladwell explores how and why we so often misread other people, discussing his new book Talking to Strangers (RFH, 25 Nov); acclaimed writer Will Self opens up about his drug addiction in the 1980s as he launches his new memoir Will (QEH, 9 Nov); psychotherapist and author Philippa Perry explores parenting in conversation with broadcaster Nihal Arthanayake as she discusses her bestselling The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read (QEH, 19 Sep); and launching a new strand Reading the Mind, Southbank Centre presents a special event chaired by journalist Christina Patterson with Costa Prize winning authors and qualified nurses Nathan Filer and Christie Watson in conversation together for the first time as they explore mental health through literature (PUR, 9 Sep).

TV personalities discuss their work and present new books. Documentary filmmaker Louis Theroux reflects on a weird, wonderful journey through two decades of groundbreaking television as he presents his new memoir (RFH, 25 Sep); and in London exclusive events, Queer Eye’s Antoni Porowski invites audiences to ask him questions on healthy living and eating as he celebrates the publication of his first cookbook, Antoni in the Kitchen (QEH, 25 Sep) and fellow chef and bestselling author Nadiya Hussain reflects on her life and roles as mother, Muslim, working woman and celebrity as she presents her brand new memoir Finding My Voice, in conversation with broadcaster and cultural commentator Emma Freud (RFH, 1 Dec).

The season also features appearances from some of today’s most entertaining comedians in London exclusive events. Acclaimed writer and director, and star of The IT Crowd, Richard Ayoade reflects on his award-winning films and comedy as he discusses his new book Ayoade on Top in conversation with fellow comedian, actor and director Adam Buxton (RFH, 5 Sep); cherished comedian and national treasure Lenny Henry takes the stage to share his long-awaited autobiography, Who Am I, Again?, reflecting on his early years and sudden rise to fame (RFH, 30 Sep); award-winning comedian Sara Pascoe explores what really matters to humans as she discusses her new book, Sex Power Money (QEH, 8 Sep); and following the success of Nanette, Tasmanian comedian Hannah Gadsby presents her new stand-up show Douglas for three performances in Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall (RFH, 25 Oct & two performances on 27 Oct).

IN CONVERSATION EVENTS - FICTION

Award-winning writers present new works of fiction in exclusive London events. Beloved Young Adult writer Malorie Blackman presents her long-awaited new novel in her Noughts and Crosses series, Crossfire (QEH, 8 Sep); renowned short-story writer Etgar Keret presents his new collection, Fly Already, in conversation with Associate Professor in English Literature at the University of Southampton, Devorah Baum (PUR, 3 Sep); and bestselling author of Everything I Never Told You and Little Fires Everywhere Celeste Ng makes her first London appearance following the publication of her acclaimed novels to discuss her work, in conversation with Southbank Centre Chief Executive Elaine Bedell (QEH, 6 Oct).

POETRY AND SPOKEN WORD

Out-Spoken, one of London’s premier poetry and live music nights, continues its year-long residency at Southbank Centre. Hosted by poet and founder of SLAMbassadors national youth slam, Joelle Taylor and featuring the beats of DJ Sam 'Junior' Bromfield, the first of three live events sees poet and founder of Out-Spoken Anthony Anaxagorou take the stage alongside writer and visual artist Bobby Parker and legendary spoken-word artist Salena Godden and features music from Nigerian Afro Fusion musician Villy and singer-songwriter Azekel (PUR, 26 Sep). The second edition kicks off Poetry International with a stellar line up of poets to be announced (PUR, 17 Oct) and the third features Forward Prize winning poet Liz Berry, acclaimed Faber poet Zaffar Kunial and Ted Hughes Award winner Hollie McNish (PUR, 28 Nov). Three corresponding masterclasses open to anyone with an interest in poetry, are hosted by leading poets including internationally touring poet, playwright and performer Inua Ellams (SUN, 21 Sep; FOY, 12 Oct; FOY, 23 Nov).

Southbank Centre’s National Poetry Library presents a number of events and exhibitions across the season. National Poetry Library Lates, Southbank Centre’s series of poetry salons in the Hayward Gallery Cafe returns, showcasing performances and readings from today’s leading poets and emerging talent (HGC, 20 Nov). The National Poetry library also presents regular free exhibitions: Guernica Remakings displays new audio-visual responses to Picasso’s anti-war masterpiece and includes commissions from poets So Mayer and Richard Price embedded within the work (NPL, until 22 Sept); and the library marks the 30th anniversary of Samuel Beckett’s death with Library of the Unword, a new exhibition from South Korean artist Joo Yeon Park who has created new works in response to Beckett’s poems (NPL, 5 Dec - 29 Mar 2020). Further events at the library include A Homage to Raaz, an evening of readings and tribute to poet and founder of Survivors’ Poetry, Razz (NPL, 4 Sep); A Bargain with the Light which sees poet Jacqueline Saphra reflect on photos of and by photographer and war journalist Lee Miller (NPL, 2 Oct); and Beyond Imitation, a discussion examining poetry’s relationship with art featuring special guest speakers and poets Tammy Yoseloff, Claire Collison, Abegail Morley and Kathryn Maris who read from their work (NPL, 4 Dec).

To celebrate National Poetry Day on 3 October, Southbank Centre and The Poetry Society jointly present a range of poetry workshops and free performances, open to school pupils aged 7-11. Featured poets include Raymond Antrobus, Jade Cuttle, Dzifa Benson, Daljit Nagra, Young People’s Laureate for London Theresa Lola and winners of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award (CBR, 3 Oct).

LIVE READINGS, PERFORMANCE AND DISCUSSIONS

The Booker Prize Readings are a major highlight of the literary calendar, and once again return to Southbank Centre, showcasing the authors shortlisted for the 2019 prize reading from their work, on the evening before the winner is announced (RFH, 13 Oct). London’s leading LGBTQ+ literary salon, Polari, returns for three events this Autumn Season hosted by Polari founder and writer Paul Burston. The first takes place during London Literature Festival with line-up to be announced. The second marks its twelfth birthday and features BAFTA-winning screenwriter and TV producer Russell T Davies in conversation about his work including Queer as Folk and Years and Years (L5FR, 25 Nov) whilst the third is headlined by writer Lisa Jewell who reads from and discusses her new book The Family Upstairs (L5FR, 9 Dec). As part of its 40th anniversary celebrations, the London Review of Books brings the acclaimed New York literary-music series Against the Grain to the UK for the first time in an exclusive event. The evening of readings, conversation, contemporary music and one-night-only collaboration features Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon, Canadian poet and translator Anne Carson, American composer Nico Muhly and guests (QEH, 30 Oct).

The season additionally features discussions with contributors to new anthologies. Editor and activist Mariam Khan is in conversation with Salma El-Wardany, fellow contributor to a new collection It’s Not About the Burqa: Muslim Women on Faith, Feminism, Sexuality and Race exploring contemporary Muslim female experiences, alongside additional panellists to be announced (PUR, 7 Nov); artists and contributors to a new collection Smashing It: Working Class Artists on Life, Art and Making It Happen including poet and editor of the collection Sabrina Mahfouz and Southbank Centre Creative Director Madani Younis, who chairs the session, showcase and perform their work, offering tips and personal insights on how to make it into the arts (PUR, 23 Sep); and Brazilian British novelists Yara Rodrigues Fowler and Luzia Sauma as well as award-winning Argentine British poet Leo Boix, contributors to the first ever anthology of British Latinx writers, Un Nuevo Sol: British Latinx Writers, read from their work in an evening hosted by writer and publisher Nii Ayikwei Parkes, the founder of flipped eye publishing (L5FR, 19 Nov).

COURSES

Continuing its education offer, alongside the monthly Out-Spoken poetry masterclasses, Southbank Centre presents a six-week poetry writing course How to Be a Person, led by poet Will Harris (25 Sep - 4 Dec) and acclaimed writer Courttia Newland leads a six-week creative writing course City Lights exploring the theme of urban metropolis (30 Oct - 11 Dec). LONDON LITERATURE FESTIVAL AND POETRY INTERNATIONAL

Southbank Centre's London Literature Festival returns for its thirteenth year this October (17th - 27th), bringing together today's leading writers, thinkers and cultural observers for 11 days of talks, readings, poetry and performance. This year's edition once again opens with Poetry International (17th - 20th), Southbank Centre's longest running festival, founded by former Poet Laureate Ted Hughes in 1967, with four days of poetry and performance from today's leading poets and spoken word artists from across the world. Previous London Literature Festival participants include Salman Rushdie, Akala, Margaret Atwood, Philip Pullman, Claudia Rankine, Carol Ann Duffy, Louis Theroux, Roger Daltrey, Chibundu Onuzo, Lauren Child, Juno Dawson, Nikesh Shukla, Joy Harjo, Terrance Hayes, Tom Hanks, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sally Field. The programme for London Literature Festival and Poetry International 2019 will be announced in July.

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[numberonemusicstranger-blog]

I never watched this, it looked bad. But this attack is so good. Check out this part:

“That reluctance to ‘unite’ her audience may be the most radical thing about Gadsby’s act,” Andrew Kahn wrote in a glowing review for Slate.

But, as made obvious by the universal praise she has received, that’s exactly what Gadsby has done. She doesn’t use comedy to do it, instead opting for tragedy, but that doesn’t make her show any more radical. The audience is not challenged in any meaningful way to act.

All of this reminds me of R.L. Stephens’ 2017 critique of Ta-Nehisi Coates. The former Atlantic writer and MacArthur winner’s 2015 book Between the World and Me sketches a convincing narrative of how racism sits at the heart of the American experience, but its universal popularity among the media (and white people) shows that it failed to actually challenge our material world. The book portrays racism as an abstract concept, not one based in centuries of empire and capitalism, and therefore something that cannot be completely understood. It allows white people to think “I understand racism as a deep and complicated process I’ve been complicit in,” without implicating them, pointing blame at our current structures, or identifying a way forward (if the book did, say, call for armed struggle or a working-class overthrow of capitalism, it no doubt would be less-praised).

Nanette does the same thing for queerness. It locates the problem not in exploitative structures that might implicate Gadsby’s audience, but within ourselves. If only we could respect each other, then things would change. If only we could be more civil in our public debates.

[thequeereview]

Exclusive Interview: performance artist Krishna Istha on Hannah Gadsby's Gender Agenda Netflix special "I realized what I was doing was actually stand-up comedy"

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[thequeereview]

Exclusive Interview: comedian Hannah Gadsby on Something Special "from Nanette to this show you're witnessing someone who's overcome trauma”

Emmy and Peabody Award-winning comedian Hannah Gadsby follows their acclaimed Netflix comedy specials Nanette and Douglas with their aptly named latest special, Hannah Gadsby: Something Special. Although they admit they’re not a fan of com-coms, Gadsby’s typically smart set has a “feel-good” vibe, focusing on their relationship with Jenney Shamash (also the show’s producer and director), the…