With its depiction of gay sexual freedom before the scourge of AIDS, major British novelist Alan Hollinghurst’s The Swimming Pool Library shattered publishing’s closet door on its 1988 release and his Booker Prize win for The Line of Beauty in 2004 helped propel LGBTQ+ narratives into the literary mainstream.
Aotearoa New Zealand’s Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku’s early short stories about a young Māori girl discovering her sexuality in Tahuri broke new ground as part of a lifelong career as a trailblazer for Māori rights, and the Women’s and Gay Liberation movements.
US author Torrey Peters’ 2021 Detransition, Baby was met with critical success for its tender exploration of gender, parenthood, love and trans life and was hailed as “the first great trans realist novel”.
They join Chris Tse (Out Here) to reflect on their respective landmark works; discuss what they capture of their time and contexts; and consider literature’s role in responding to or shaping social attitudes to queer life.
Also at Auckland Writers Festival
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