The world is drifting towards more authoritarianism, and discrimination and hate crimes towards LGBTQ+ groups is on the rise all over the world. How does this affect the writing of queer literature?
Nigerian Arinze Ifeakandu and South African Koleka Putuma are part of a new generation African authors writing about queer experience. In their work, they highlight the challenges that come with living openly as queer: the fear of losing contact with family and friends, the risk of violence, mental health problems and shame. At the same time, the lives they describe are completely ordinary, lived by ordinary people in search of belonging, love and community.
Does queer literature automatically become activist? And do you have a responsibility as a queer writer to write about queer experiences?
Arinze Ifeakanduis the author of the short story collection God’s Children Are Little Broken Things, which shows a broad perspective on queer lives in Nigerias big cities. It depicts loneliness and lives led in hiding, but also full of burning passion, desire and ecstasy.
Koleka Putuma is an author and playwright and head of Manyano Media. With the poetry collections Collective amnesia, Hullo, Bu-Bye, Koko, Come In and We have everything we need to start again, she has addressed homophobia and transphobia, the long term effects of racism and what it means to be a woman.
Nosizwe Baqwa is an artist, playwright, actor and singer. Her work often exists at the intersection of her own experiences, art and politics, and in 2022, she won the Hedda Prize for the self-written production Mother of a Nation. Now, she meets Ifeakandu and Putuma for a conversation on queer lives and queer writing.
The conversation will be in English. The event is part of the Norwegian Literature House's pride program and is supported by Norad.
