Writing Queer Utopias

The places we live and move make us. And we make them.

Together, let's write what might happen in an imaginary, utopia city, one where queerness - in all its forms - is an integral part of everyday life. What stories would take place in queer majority spaces? What bills would the queer mayor pass, would there still be super markets, what would eye contact in the bus be like? What kind of yearly celebrations would the city hold and what would the kids learn in school? And what would our characters be like, what would their defining life experiences be? What would they still fight for?

By writing our utopias, we might just bring something back to the "real world". You don't need to have written before, just come with your imagination and a few words.

The only goal is to enjoy the process of writing, get some ideas out of our heads and discover what's in other peoples' writing.

All languages welcome, I'll moderate in English and depending on your language preferences we'll organise groups for the actual writing.

You can come with computers or papers and pens, depending on your preference.

Host of the workshop:

Mélie Boltz Nasr is a French Lebanese almost British writer and podcaster. They prefer to write their long formats in French and their poetry in English.

Their first book, Contes d'un autre bois, came out in September 2023. It's a collection of queer and feminist short stories retelling classic fairytales. The book plays with some of the new inclusive and / or gender neutral linguistic forms being developed in French. They are now working on a novel based on East Mediterranean mythology.

Some of their poetry - English and French language - has been put to music by perfomers and composers. They have poems published with Version Originale and are working on finalising two English language poetry collections, one about sapphic love and the second about Arab diaspora angst in France.Their French language podcast, Passé Recomposé, is a series of interviews about the lives of people's grandparents. These family stories open a window into a more nuanced vision of recent history. Season 3 focuses on families with at least one grand-parent in Algeria.