Vulnerable and fierce, hilarious and heartbreaking, Queerstories celebrates the culture and creativity of the LGBTQI+ community, one true story at a time. For ten years, Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival Creative Director Maeve Marsden has produced Queerstories events around the country, with more than 500 people having now responded to the brief: “tell the story you want to tell, but are never asked to.”
Join Maeve, along with some of her favourite LGBTQI+ writers from the program, as they share their own work, unexpected tales of pride, prejudice, resilience and resistance.
Maeve Marsden is the Creative Director of Varuna the National Writers’ House and the Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival. A writer and theatremaker, she has presented work at major festivals and venues across Australia, New Zealand and the UK.
Hannah Kent is a multi-award-winning author and screenwriter. She is the author of the bestselling novels Burial Rites, The Good People and Devotion, and her original feature film, Run Rabbit Run, starring Sarah Snook and directed by Daina Reid, premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Her most recent book is Always Home, Always Homesick: A Memoir of Iceland.
Vivian Blaxell’s essay Nuclear Cats was a finalist for the 2021 Melbourne Prize for Literature. In 2025, she published Worthy of the Event: An Essay at LittlePuss Press (NYC). She lives in Naarm/Melbourne.
Dr J.M. Field (Spearim) is a Gamilaraay mari from Moree way, but grew up on Darug land in a small town along the Great Dividing Range. He studied maths and French literature at the University of Sydney, before completing a doctorate at Balliol College, Oxford. JM is the author of Etta and the Shadow Taboo, which was highly commended for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Prize for Indigenous Writing, as well as being shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Prize for Children's Literature. His latest book is The Eagle & the Crow.
Patrick Marlborough is an underemployed writer/comedian/musician/drongo living with their parents in Walyalup, Western Australia. They have been published widely, and they are the founder and editor of The Yeah Nah Review, as well as Wharf Rat Press. Their screwball comedy revenge thriller Nock Loose was published in 2025.
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This event is part of the Main Program and included as part of Platinum, Gold, Silver and Saturday Bronze Passes.
Subject to availability, a limited number of single tickets may become available 9 September.
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This venue is wheelchair accessible. Please visit our Accessibility page or email hello@bluemountainswritersfestival.com.au if you have any other accessibility requirements.