Antinous

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Last year we stationed a number of poets in the Museums and Archives of London to report back on the queer histories hidden therein.  Celebrated poet John McCullough explored the British Museum, where he took a bust of the boy god Antinous as his

The Ballad of Captain Rigby

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Write Queer London 2012 saw poet Peter Daniels enter the Metropolitan Archives to uncover LGBT history amongst their stacks wherein he made the acqaintance of our tale's hero, the indefatigable Captain Rigby.  Captain Edward Rigby was tried for sodomy in 1698, after falling foul of

The Secret Lives of Shirts by Elizabeth (Buffy) Noble - Winning Poetry entry Write Queer London 2012

Yellow Morphy Richards iron from Geffrye Museum handling collectioncollection
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The secret lives of shirts I am flattened, And again flattened. I am forced. I am heavy as a man, hanging I am heavy as a day. I am made straight. but I have been silk, undone, wettened I have been lovingly dangled I have
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The Pankratiasts by James Duncan- overall winning entry for Write Queer London 2012

Pankration scene: the pankriatiast on the right tries to gouge his opponent's eye; the umpire is about to strike him for this foul. Detail from an Attic red-figure kylix, 490-480 BC. From Vulci, Italy.
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Squat down, pulling the back of my head onto his bare chest, Erasmus has pushed his left leg between mine. The inside of his thigh is touching the back of my balls.  My sturdy left leg knots around his sturdier right.  He has
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Write Queer London Festival has landed

Write Queer London flyer
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Discovering gay histories across London museums The Museum of London’s Write Queer London festival, which begins in December, brings together writers, poets and LGBT history in London museums for a fourth year. Curator talks, gallery tours, poetry commissions, a writing competition and creative

Write Queer London 2012 is on its way

Write Queer London flyer
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We are really pleased that Write Queer London is back for a fourth year. The recipe goes like this: - Take five or six London museums, with interesting LGBT collections or stories - Add a knowledgeable curator to explain and answer questions - Bring in

Gay history: now in verse

Black and white photo shows head and shoulders of poet John McCullough
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As part of this year's Write Queer London we've commissioned three poets to search the collections of three London museums, choose an object or a theme and write a poem.  All three poets have just begun their commissions now, and we wait

Write Queer London 2012: How to enter

Write Queer London flyer
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RULES: Entries in all categories must relate to an aspect of historical or modern Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender London - or objects held in London museums. We will interpret this fairly broadly, but won't consider entries, however good, which are simply 'gay stories

WRITE QUEER LONDON 2011: A Moth in a Blizzard

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Write Queer London 2011: Overall Winner   I met Akira Arashi. Normally one would begin by detailing when and where and how they met someone but all I recall is how he threw a door open and walked in, wrapped in a shroud of blinding light
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Write Queer London 2011: Reverse Pepys

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It does not begin as a great fire, but in the gentle kindling of the King’s bakery. Much later on, full blaze, it sends a measured, secular radiancy. By and by, 300 houses go, and look remarkable when seen from the tower. From Fish
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Tweets

In October 2011, Grand Union and its Youth Orchestra helped commemorate the 75th anniversary of the historic... http://t.co/DMF4U1Xqo4

Apr 16, 2013 3:03pm 40 days ago

THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES NEEDS YOU ... to train as an archivisit if you're from an atypical archivist background... http://t.co/P8QgA8vNqF

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World's best Bette Davis impersonator Charles Pierce is Polari's Day 17 LGBT History Month hero http://t.co/1Pxsn2L3

Feb 18, 2013 12:36pm 97 days ago

Remarkable artist, Kelvin Okafor, born in Tottenham to Nigerian parents, exhibiting in London, last month at the... http://t.co/WroqacQ8

Feb 09, 2013 11:21pm 105 days ago