“The East is Queer” with Vedrana Velickovic (Meet the CTSG)

How do you decolonise your syllabus and create a queer book fest at the same time? Dr Vedrana Velickovic (Brighton) shares the amazing origin story of the queer literature festival ‘The Coast is Queer’ and tells us about the many authors, activists, students and creatives that shape the programme every year. We talk about our favourite activist bookshops, about exciting queer books from Eastern Europe and about the perception of the East in the West. Vedrana also talks about her ongoing cooperation with Bernardine Evaristo and gives us a sneak peek into her dream festival programme. Jackie Kay? Are you listening?If you’re looking for even more queer literary content, look no further: follow @coastisqueer and @Lena_Mattheis on Twitter and check out@queerlitpodcast’s little Instagram. Texts, shops and people mentioned:https://coastisqueer.comVedrana Velickovic’s Eastern Europeans in Contemporary Literature and Culture: Imagining New Europe (Palgrave, 2019)Grand Parade BuildingAfrori Books (Brighton)The Feminist Bookshop (Brighton)New Beacon Books (London)Jay Bernard’s SurgeDanez Smith Diriye Osman’s Fairytales for Lost ChildrenPolari PrizeJackie Kay’s TrumpetThe Marlborough Theatre (Brighton)Dr Samuel Solomon (Sussex)Centre for Sexual Dissidence (Sussex University)New Writing South @newwritingsouthLesley WoodDavid SheppeardJuno Roche’s Trans Power and Queer SexJuno DawsonDr Sita Balani (Kings College)Douglas Stuart’s Shuggie BainFestival Krokodil (Belgrade)Lejla Kalamujić’s Call me EstebanDragoslava BarzutSlovenian Poet Anja Golob Skin from Skunk AnansieGay’s the WordMaria JastrzębskaDocumentary on trans* rights in Germany https://www.abheute-doku.com/doku?fbclid=IwAR2fE740-9HLF66SbbhaaJZ6MD-rG9uHP16BFpzjJssuaYDxoWjrI4-V87wH Howitt (Brighton)Crossing Waves PodcastDeCol Collective https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/decolonisingatfalmer/Mohsin Zaidi’s A Dutiful BoyBernardine Evaristo’s ManifestoBlack and Asian British Women’s Writing International Conference https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/decolonisingatfalmer/common-threads-black-and-asian-british-womens-writing-international-conference/Pajtim Statovci’s My Cat Yugoslavia, Crossing, and BollaPaul Mendez Rainbow MilkQuestions you may want to reflect on after listening:1.What role can literature and teaching play in creating a more inclusive society?2.We talk about several radical or activist bookshops. Please look up another one. Is it in your area? Was it easy to find? Do you think we need these shops?3.Which literature festivals are you familiar with? Will you attend or support one this year?4.How do you decolonise your bookshelf?