> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.scenemag.co.uk/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Coast is Queer: Some highlights to look forward to - URL: https://www.scenemag.co.uk/coast-is-queer-some-highlights-to-look-forward-to/ - Published: 2026-10-10T18:06:09.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-10T18:06:09.000Z - Description: Bodies unashamed, histories reclaimed, families chosen and built, all in one gloriously queer weekend at ACCA. Brides of the page, butches of the stage, Bears and trans icons: Coast is Queer is the literary sea we’ve been waiting to swim in. - Author: Eric Page - Tags: Culture Forget the seafront: this year’s **Coast is Queer** docks a short hop up the [25 bus ](https://www.buses.co.uk/services/BH/25?ref=scenemag.co.uk)at **ACCA**, on the **University of Sussex** campus. From 16 to 18 October, writers, thinkers and delightful troublemakers sail in to talk bodies, history, family and fame. Hoist your tote bag, because here are some highlights to look forward to. ![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/2026/10/Queer-Body--3--1.png) Image credit Coast is Queer ### [Pleasure, Power and Pride in Our Bodies ](https://coastisqueer.com/event/pleasure-power-pride-in-our-bodies/?ref=scenemag.co.uk)| Friday 16 October Friday 16 October opens with a conversation about the question many of us have muttered at a changing-room mirror: what if our bodies were a joy rather than a project? **Megan Jayne Crabbe**, whose books made body positivity a manifesto, joins **Daniel O’Shaughnessy,** a queer health practitioner writing tenderly about shame and healing, and **Max Hovey,** who authored *No Fats, No Fems*. **Jamie Windust**, writer, model and chronicler of non-binary life, steers the ship from the chair. Expect honest talk about beauty standards, social media currents and the ache of never feeling shipshape in a community that can be fiercely image-conscious. But expect pleasure too, because this panel cares as much about liberation as critique. Come for the permission to like what you see. You will go home lighter, taller and with a long reading list. ![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/2026/10/Queer-MAsculinities-1.png) Image credit Coast is Queer ### [Queer Masculinities ](https://coastisqueer.com/event/queer-masculinities/?ref=scenemag.co.uk)| Friday 16 October Later that Friday, the festival charts a course through the many ways of being masculine without being boring about it. **Finn Mackay,** a sociologist who has written about female masculinities and the so-called gender wars, joins **Avi Ben-Zeev,** a psychologist and prize-winning storyteller whose memoir chases the feeling of home, and **Kenya Sterling**, a playwright and performer who bends class, race and transness through a surrealist lens. Chairing is **Nick McGlynn,** who literally wrote the book on Bear spaces, making him the festival’s foremost authority on beards, bodies and belonging. The panel asks what masculinity looks like when it refuses to sit still, and how butch lesbians, trans men and gay men quietly rewrite old rules just by living. It is smart, plural and allergic to stereotype. ![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/2026/10/Big-Debuts-Niamh-and-Rozie-1.png) Image credit Coast is Queer ### [Big Debuts: Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin and Rozie Kell](https://coastisqueer.com/event/big-debuts-niamh-ni-mhaoileoin-and-rozie-kelly/?ref=scenemag.co.uk)y | Saturday 17 October Saturday 17 October launches with a treat for anyone who loves discovering a new favourite author before everyone else. **Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin** and **Rozie Kelly**, two of the most talked-about first novelists afloat, sit down with writer and editor **Billy Lindon,** whose credits include joyful queer romcoms, the Queer Joy podcast and publishing **Lou Sullivan’s** diaries. Niamh’s *Ordinary Saints* navigates faith, grief, love and chosen family, and reached the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize shortlist. Rozie’s *Kingfisher*, a bold, unvarnished tale of queer love and friendship, won the NorthBound Book Award and made the Women’s Prize for Fiction shortlist. Two debuts, two distinct voices, not a dull moment on the horizon. Expect candid chat about the craft of literary fiction, the nerve-shredding thrill of a first publication, and how queerness, religion and nature seep into the pages. ![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/2026/10/Queer-Disability-History-1.png) Image credit Coast is Queer ### [Queer Disability History ](https://coastisqueer.com/event/queer-disability-history/?ref=scenemag.co.uk)| Saturday 17 October Who gets written into the history books, and who gets quietly lost at sea? That is the sharp question behind Queer Disability History, also on Saturday 17 October. **Daisy Holder,** the archivist behind *Queer Disability Through History*, has spent years salvaging disabled lives from obscurity and handing them back to the community. **Jamie Hale,** author of *Shield* and artistic director of disabled-led company CRIPtic Arts, brings a theatre-maker’s eye for story. **Tom Ryalls**, whose *This Book is Short* is written for fellow ADHDers, earned a place on the Shaw Trust’s list of influential figures in theatre and broadcasting. Playwright and activist **Julie McNamara** chairs, drawing on a career putting disabled stories on stage. Together they follow the threads linking queer and disabled experience, from archive finds to personal tales, and chart more generous futures. ![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/2026/10/Juno-Dawson--2--1.png) Image credit Coast is Queer ### [Juno Dawson’s Lovely Trans Sofa](https://coastisqueer.com/event/juno-dawsons-lovely-trans-sofa/?ref=scenemag.co.uk) | Saturday 17 October Saturday evening closes with the weekend’s glitziest ticket, as Brighton’s own **Juno Dawson** welcomes friends aboard the very first Lovely Trans Sofa. Think cosy, chatty and gloriously unpredictable: readings, conversation and performance from a crew of thrilling TNBI talents. Juno, whose books range from the iconic *This Book is Gay* to the witchy *Her Majesty’s Royal Coven*, is the host a bookish crowd deserves. **Jordan Gray,** the comedian behind the ITV sitcom *Transaction*, brings fearless stand-up and the distinction of being the first trans performer to take a solo show to the London Palladium. **Nicola Dinan,** whose debut *Bellies* won the Polari First Book Prize, adds literary sparkle, while actor and comedian **Fizz Sinclair** promises wit, warmth and queer flair. It is a living room for readers who like literature with a side of laughter and a flourish of cabaret. ### [Mum’s the Word ](https://coastisqueer.com/event/mums-the-word/?ref=scenemag.co.uk)| Sunday 18 October Sunday 18 October brings a warm, wry and surprisingly practical morning with Mum’s the Word, celebrating queer family life in all its glorious chaos. The programme cheerfully tackles the questions every would-be queer parent gets asked, from the logistics of pregnancy to who counts as which parent. Brighton’s **Jessica** and **Claudia Kellgren-Fozard,** raising three children as a same-sex couple while managing chronic illness, bring laughter and lived expertise to their huge online following. **Kirsty Loehr,** author of *A Short History of Queer Parenting*, blends humour with history. Kirsty Logan, the award-winning Scottish author of *The Gracekeepers* and *Now She is Witch*, explores how motherhood threads through her fiction. **Dr Vedrana Velickovic** of the University of Brighton chairs, and poet **Maria Jastrzębska** adds a special performance. Together they navigate visibility, community and the joyful, sleep-deprived work of building a proud family. Six conversations, three days and one excellent reason to fill your tote with books. You will leave prouder and far better read. Catch the 25, drop anchor at ACCA, and let the tide of queer literature carry you home, reading glasses at the ready. **Full festival details can be found on the** [**Coast is Queer Website on this link.** ](https://coastisqueer.com/?ref=scenemag.co.uk)