Design & content ©Simon Smalley 2025
I was invited to contribute to the Global Wordsmiths blog
in advance of the Queer The Shelves literary festival.
‘The Spark That Lit The Touchpaper’
Being invited to attend literary functions validates me as a writer, and meeting other authors provides an opportunity to not only network and connect, but to engage in a good old-fashioned chinwag about books we love. Nottingham’s ‘Queer The Shelves’ is crucial in providing empowerment for writers, and that it is held in my hometown makes it even more magnificent for me as my literary voyage began in the National Justice Museum with my inclusion in the ‘Desire, Love, Identity’ anthology. This was the spark that lit the blue touchpaper of my life-changing literary rocket. I stood back open-mouthed as it soared to the stratosphere with the publication of my first volume of memoirs.
The importance of events such as ‘Queer The Shelves’ is that they provide a safe space for us writers whose work unashamedly reflects who we are. Unlike many who went before us – whether our words are fiction or factual – we do not have to disguise our real selves in euphemism, nor be camouflaged by a cloak of non-specific prose. No longer as readers do we have to seek clues indicating someone’s sexuality and self-being, hoping that we will find the full loaf from which a few crumbs of hint and suggestion have been allowed to fall. Our words are a clarion call that we are out and proud, and by providing escape within the covers of our books we break down barriers and cock a snook to those who hate anything that they perceive as “different”.
By embracing our freedom to publish our words we provide hope to those who are otherwise silenced by repressive regimes and restrictive attitudes.
