Platform for LGBTQ+ stories at Aberystwyth conference

Academics and creative practitioners will meet in Aberystwyth to give a platform to LGBTQ+ voices in Welsh language literature this week.

On Saturday 5 July, a Welsh-language conference will be held at the National Library of Wales to look at Welsh literature through an LGBTQ+ lens, celebrate authors and texts, highlight forgotten works, and discuss ideas for new directions.

'Testunau'r Enfys' (Rainbow Texts) is a project that looks at the intersectional identities and representation in Welsh-language literature and aims to stimulate research and new creative works.

As part of the conference, there will be discussions about contemporary and historical literature, starting with a discussion on books for children and young people, with Gareth Evans-Jones, Siwan Rosser, Llinos Stone, Bethan Jones from the Books Council of Wales, and Megan Angharad Hunter, one of the authors of the Book of the Year Award shortlisted Young. Welsh. Proud.

Findings from the project's initial workshop held last year will also be given a platform. Miriam Elin Jones will discuss science fiction, Rhiannon Marks will discuss literature and identities, and Mair Jones from Queer Welsh Stories will guide attendees through the Library's queer collections.

Dr Cathryn A. Charnell-White from the Department of Welsh and Celtic Studies at Aberystwyth University, one of the organisers of the project, said:

"The conference is an exciting opportunity to look anew at our literature through an LGBTQ+ lens. The wider project has grown out of the 'Rainbow Texts' module for undergraduate students, and it offers much potential to break new ground and to foster diversity and inclusion in our literature and in the curriculum. One of my favourite examples is a poem about friendship between two girls from the sixteenth century, which offers new and interesting interpretations when read through an LGBTQ+ lens.”

One of the co-organisers of the conference, Dr Gareth Llŷr Evans, Lecturer in Theatre and Performance in the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies at Aberystwyth University, added:

"The conference and the project are an opportunity to acknowledge this diversity of out and proud voices, while also highlighting those that historically might have expressed a queer sensibility in more subtle ways.”

"There is a significant body of queer literature in the Welsh language, whether they are volumes that directly express queer identities and experiences, or those that are suitable to be interpreted through a queer reading. We hope that the conference can draw more people's attention to the wealth of stories that are to be celebrated and enjoyed."

The Rainbow Texts project is a collaborative one, held in partnership with academics at Bangor and Cardiff Universities, and funded by the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol.

One of the other objectives of the project is to create a community of academics and creative practitioners in the field of LGBTQ+ literature in the Welsh language to build expertise and develop learning resources in the field.

Places at the conference can be booked by e-mailing cymraeg@aber.ac.uk.