Acclaimed writers to watch from across North America—and various diaspora communities—share these tender and transformative stories about queer BIPOC characters discovering their place in a world that can be hostile to LGBTQ+ people. A Palestinian refugee plans to come out to his entire family at his birthday dinner party in Three Parties, Ziyad Saadi’s breathtaking reimagining of Mrs. Dalloway. Iryn Tushabe introduces us to an endearing young Ugandan heroine who must make difficult decisions between the religious and cultural mores of her country, and her beloved gay sister, in Everything Is Fine Here. Gaysians, the new graphic novel from Mike Curato, follows four gay Asians navigating love and building a chosen family in Seattle. In conversation, the authors will discuss writing queerness from outside white-centric perspectives, and how they balance depicting queer joy and pleasure with the realities of violence against LGBTQ+ people. Moderated by Hudson Lin.
Presented in partnership with Vancouver Queer Film Festival.
MIKE CURATO is Filipino-Irish American author and illustrator of books for children, teens, and adults. Mike’s debut young adult graphic novel, Flamer, was awarded the 2020 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Young Adult. Gaysians is his adult debut.
HUDSON LIN (she/her) writes heartfelt, gritty romances featuring queer people of color. The New York Times has called Lin's writing "splashy and dazzling and high-intensity," and Book Riot has said that her dramatic plot lines "would make Shonda Rhimes proud." Based in Toronto, Lin currently serves as the Program Coordinator at the Festival of Literary Diversity.
ZIYAD SAADI is a Palestinian Canadian writer and filmmaker based in Vancouver. He is a Nicholl Fellowship semi-finalist and winner of the MPAC Hollywood Bureau pilot writing competition. His short story "The Third or Fourth Casualty" is featured in the Palestinian speculative fiction anthology Thyme Travellers. He holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Concordia University.
IRYN TUSHABE is a Ugandan-Canadian writer and journalist. Her creative nonfiction has appeared in Briarpatch Magazine, Adda, Prairies North, the Walrus, and on CBC Saskatchewan. Her short fiction has been published in Grain Magazine, the Carter V. Cooper Short Fiction Anthology, and the Journey Prize Stories. She won the City of Regina Writing Award in 2020 and 2024, was a finalist for the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2021, and won the 2023 Writers’ Trust McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize. She lives in Regina.
