Image: Ann Marie Calilhanna
The LGBTQIA+ writers’ group at WestWords, Western Sydney’s literature development organization, is launching its new anthology of short stories next week.
The anthology, titled Transforming silence: what are the words?will officially launch on Wednesday June 16 at the WestWords premises at 41 Hunter Street, Parramatta.
Collaborative effort from start to finish
Transform the silence was a collaborative effort from start to finish, with the process beginning last August.
According to band host Wilfred Roach, the opportunity to write for the anthology was open to any member of the band who wanted to write something about any aspect of their choosing, be it poetry or music. prose, fiction or non-fiction.
Explaining the development process for the collection, Roach said in an interview with stargazer“A few members of the group who wrote for the first anthology had the idea of getting together and, if you wanted to, evaluating each other’s work and activating and strengthening it. And I thought it was a very good idea to move the second anthology forward.
Transform the silence is the group’s second anthology.
According to Roach, the anthology’s title was inspired by an essay poet Audrey Lorde wrote after a false diagnosis of cancer. During the time she believed she had cancer, she “reviewed her life and realized that she had repeatedly been silent and regretted it and really urged the reader to take a stand and to speak up because silence really does not serve us and the causes we fight for.
Writing is an “important tool of expression, self-expression, liberation”
Wilfred Roach, Host, LGBTQIA+ Writers Group at WestWords.
Roach thinks that for queer people, writing is “a really important tool of expression, self-expression, liberation, to be able to write down your thoughts; to make your presence felt.
He continued: “The anthology is really an example of that and I hope it inspires people, queer people, not to back down, whether it’s getting involved in the group or getting involved. engage in another art form to really ground and center themselves.
The WestWords LGBTQIA+ Writers Group is open to anyone with a connection (work, family, residence) to Western Sydney who identifies as LGBTQIA+. The group meets every other Wednesday, at 6:30 p.m. in person and online on Zoom.
First anthology of the group, Lights on, can be read here
Free tickets for the launch can be purchased here