Let's Talk About Trans Healthcare
Ben Pechey in conversation with Edward Whelan, Rebecca Jones and Dr Aidan Kelly
Edward Whelan is passionate about trans and non-binary people having access to the information they need to make informed decisions. In Brighton he co-ran the peer support group for transmasculine people and co-wrote the first sexual health guide for trans people with the Terrence Higgins Trust. He is the author of Gender Confirmation Surgery: a guide for trans and non-binary people and contributed to Transitions: our stories of being trans.
Rebecca Jones is a 21 year old trans activist and Liberal Democrat campaigner. She began transitioning at school in her late teens and has dealt first hand with the challenges trans people face accessing trans healthcare through the NHS. In the 2024 General Election she ran for parliament for the Hackney North and Stoke Newington constituency where she received 1,562 votes.
Dr Aidan Kelly is a Clinical Psychologist and Director at Gender Plus, a UK and Ireland specialist gender identity service. He is a member of the British Association for Gender Identity Specialists as well as the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. Dr Kelly has been working in gender services since 2016, initially at the NHSâ GIDS before moving to the NHSâ Nottingham GIC and has a background in Child and Adolescent Mental Health.
Ben Pechey is a non-binary LGBTQIA+ advocate, presenter and author. They have written and produced content for The Guardian, Forbes and Diva Magazine and have worked with major brands, including CondĂ© Nast, the NSPCC and Virgin Atlantic to educate and improve awareness of the LGBTQIA+ community. They are the author of âThe Book of Non-Binary Joyâ - picked as Top Self Help Book by Forbes - and âYour Gender Bookâ. Ben is a TEDx speaker and has been featured in Diva Magazineâs & The Guardianâs 2024 Power List - Top 100 visionaries blazing a trail for LGBTQIA+ women and non-binary people.
Queer as Folklore
Dr Kate M. Graham in conversation with Sacha Coward
Sacha Coward is a researcher, historian and public speaker. He has worked in museums and heritage for fifteen years, running tours focused on LGBTQ+ history for museums, cemeteries, archives and cities all around the world. Sacha's first book Queer as Folklore is a âcelebration of queer history like you've never seen it beforeâ which reveals the unsung heroes and villains of storytelling, magic and fantasy.
Dr Kate M. Graham is a Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Westminster, where she is also the co-director of the Queer London Research Forum. Kate is the author of several chapters and articles considering revenge in Early Modern theatre and is co-editor of âSex, Time and Place: Queer Histories of London, c.1850 to the Presentâ.
Black, Queer and British
Nay Francis in conversation with Dean Atta
Dean Atta is an award-winning author and performance poet. He won the 2012 London Poetry Award and was named as one of the most influential LGBT people by the Independent on Sunday Pink List. He has written two YA novels-in-verse which include The Black Flamingo, which was a top-selling debut of 2020 and was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, CILIP Carnegie Medal, the Jhalak Prize and the YA Book Prize. The Black Flamingo was also awarded the prestigious Stonewall Book Award and the Carnegie Shadowers' Choice Award 2020. His new book, Person Unlimited is his non-fiction debut.
Andreena Leeanne (she/her), is the founder of Poetry LGBT Open Mic Night, a warm and welcoming space for the LGBTQ+ community to share their experiences & creativity through poetry and spoken word. Andreena was one of Stonewallâs Black History Month role models in 2018 and was shortlisted for a Positive LGBT Role Model National Diversity Award in 2020. She is the author of CHARRED, a collection of poetry which was shortlisted for a Polari First Book Prize 2021. Andreena is a Lived Experience Speaker & Wellbeing Workshop Facilitator and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Nay Francis is a non-binary educator, spoken word artist and socio-economic commentator. They are an active member of the non-binary and black educatorsâ network. As a director of learning, they oversee the faculty of economics, business, accounting and T Levels in a secondary state school in London.
Outside the Law
Gaar Adams in conversation with Hugo Greenhalgh
Gaar Adams is the author of Guest Privileges: Queer Lives and Finding Home in the Middle East, deemed "an important and necessary contribution to queer literature". His reporting from the Middle East and South Asia has been featured in publications including The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, Rolling Stone, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, Slate and VICE. He is a 2020 London Library Emerging Writer, and his writing has been supported by the Society of Authors, Bothy Project and the Penguin/Random House WriteNow Programme. Gaar received his Doctorate of Fine Arts from the University of Glasgow and currently teaches on the MA in Creative Writing at the University of Hull.
Hugo Greenhalgh is a journalist and writer. He worked for the Financial Times before taking up the role of LGBTQ+ editor at Openly. In February 2024 he was named an LGBTQ+ trailblazer on Attitude's 101 list. His new book The Diaries of Mr Lucas tells the story of a double life, the life of George Lucas, a civil servant who diarised his affairs and London's colourful underground gay scene prior to the partial decriminalisation of gay sex in 1967. The diaries, which Mr Lucas left to Hugo when he died in 2014, have been described as a âtreasure trove of forgotten historyâ.
DJ Minister Ballantine will be playing from 19:30