Great website

I have just found this great website that defines many of the subjects that may come up in bookclub, like What is a Lesbian Novel, What is a Gay novel, What is Bisexual literature etc. and all things queer-related. Its a really interesting read. There are various articles like "Butch-Femme Relations" ...ITS GOT EVERYTHING!!

So if you have the time (and even if you dont anyway :P) got and have a look at this:

http://www.glbtq.com/subject/literature_a-b.html

First meeting success!!

:D the first meeting was a success if I do say so myself!
We met in the Ginormous State Library, had our little room booked, it was so fancy. (thanks Felicity!). We socialised, talked about books and got to know one another :) which is, the main aim of any bookclub. After our booked time was over, we continued on to Southbank to get icecream and sat and chatted some more.

Those present decided on our first book "Written On the Body" by Jeanette Winterson. So for next meeting, hopefully some people have read it, and some read parts of it for interactive discussion! The date of our next meeting is unknown at present, but the location is West End at the Forrest vegan/cafe/restaurant place (please forgive me I have never been there myself, tho Felicity has, and I have heard nothing but good reports about the place from people I know!).

Some of what we discussed at the first meeting was the concept of Queer literature. Here is an exerpt from good ol' Wikipedia:

LGBT literature is an all encompassing term for literature produced by people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, or which involves characters, plot lines or themes concerning this community.

“	In a historical sense, literature as we understand it is a fairly new innovation, and the current concept of homosexuality is even fresher from the cultural oven. It's no great surprise, then, that gay literature ­­­­­­­­— or even gay characters in literature ­­­­— are so relatively new as to still be shiny.	”
	— Kilian Meloy , "Influential Gay Characters in Literature" from AfterElton.com

(there are also Subgenres)

Lesbian literature, gay pulp and gay science fiction are genres of LGBT fiction which represent some of the earliest incorporation of these "taboo" subjects in contemporary literature. Novels like La Garçonne by Victor Margueritte (1922) and The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall (1928) are early examples of books with lesbian themes.

LGBT authors, characters and themes are present in all genres of literature, but the increasing amount of LGBT fiction emerging in recent years has established several (if unofficial) subgenres, including LGBT mystery, horror and romance, as well as gay teen and lesbian teen fiction and humor handbooks.

Our first meeting!

Ok kids, we've set a time and a date for our very first meeting!! Yay!! It will be on Thursday night, 1st of May at 6.00 on the 3rd floor of the State Library of Qld in room 3c.

The Sate Library is located at Stanley Place, Southbank. If you're coming from the city you walk across the Victoria Bridge or if you're catching the bus it is right next to the Cultural Centre Busway.

For our first meeting we will be deciding on the books we'll be reading, figuring out a time and place for future meetings that will suit everyone, and generally deciding how the book club will be structured.

Remember that everyone is welcome at our bookclub and if you can't make it to the meeting but you'd like to be included, email us your suggestions and time preferences and we'll take them into consideration!

Spreading the word

We are now one of the links on the Citylickers website in the social groups section ! :O Yaaaay!
if you want to see it go here -----> http://www.citylickers.com/lesbian_links/social_groups
Which means their logo etc will be posted up here too in exchange once i have the html stuff sorted :P.

-narayana

update

We now have a logo. I am thinking perhaps we shall have the first meeting on the weekend at the State Library because some people work, and

THIS BOOKCLUB ISNT JUST FOR PEOPLE AT QUT, ITS FOR EVERYONE (generally in Brisbane)!!

I thought I should just make that more clearer :). Thankyou to those people who have sent emails, I've sent you invites to be an author in this blog.

We need to spread the word about, so if you know of a place where you think people who may be interested will walk past posters can be put up, or just ask people who would be willing to spread the word! I can send you copies of the poster via email if you have any places to post it. I still have to go to libraries and ask there...hehehe exciting.

- Narayana

First meeting

Hey All,

Felicity and I were discussing where our first meeting shall be held. At first we were thinking the State Library, but then I got an awesome suggestion from one of the Directors of the Queer Collective at my university. We may be able to hold bookclub meetings at the Kelvin Grove Queer Space! On thursdays, around 5.30????, nothing confirmed :) but I'm hoping! Just wanted to post an update.
Take care,
-Narayana

WE HAVE A POSTER :O

Email

Hey all, the group actually has an email address, so if you want to contact Felicity or me (Narayana) about book-club related things, please send your messages/emails/comments/ideas whatever to:

brisbanequeerbookclub@live.com

:) thankyou muchly,

- Narayana

Badges.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=214832767

We should get us some sweet-arsed badges. I love badges, therefore we need some.

The Beginnings Of this group.....

*going back in time music*


Felicity: Lets start a book club!

Narayana: YAAAY!!! :D
Im all for that totally fully and all the way.
*radiates much enthusiasm*

Felicity: *radiated enthusiasm radiated some more*

Narayana: How would we do the book club idea anyway? will discussions be based here in this group? or are we going to somehow organise a monthly meeting? And who is the leader of this book club? T'was an awesome idea, that we should put into effect :) I dont think there are any lesbian book clubs
1 :O ....so we should maybe make one? for the sake of our society? :) There is also the option of making a forum in a completely different site.
oh the possibilities....

Felicity: excited (about the book club). Woohooo - I really need a hobby at the moment. Well I think we should do the monthly thing. Can non-lezos join too? What about the 90% straight 10% types - do they qualify? I know a couple of those lol. So many possibilities....

Narayana: Oh most definitely non-lezos can join! Its a book club about Lesbian books, not just for lesbians who want to read about lesbians!! :D
That means we need a place to have our monthly meetings...hmmmm....any ideas? A place with books or near books is ideal...hmm. And we need to know how many people are interested in coming along to our meetings. The city is a pretty central place to everywhere, and everyone knows where that is....
im also excited....yes. ask your friends to see who is interested, and I will ask at my uni (im part of the queer collective)....yeah. first we need to see who is interested, and if there is enough (say....5 minimum?)im sure we can get this thing happening!!

Felicity: What bout the library in the city? It’s open late on Friday nites..but only til 7pm...We don’t have to have a fixed spot, it can be a revolving thing. Well I reckon the first thing to do is make a poster and spread the word! I’ll ask my friends and see if anyone’s interested!

Narayana: Oooh thats a fantastic idea! The first meeting could be in the city library...and we will work it out from there!! :D

And guess what? I had a brainwave just before. On google’s Blogspot (i have a blog there) you can make blogs for your club where the people in it can post things, I think its a really good idea, because some people might not be able to make the meetings, and its a good way for everyone to keep up-to-date and in contact with other members :)

Can I make the poster?? *is really excited*...or do you already have poster ideas?


How about we make it a queer book club? because there are some really sweet gay books out there :)... and we would cater for a variety of tastes then. But i guess it really depends on who is interested...hmm.

Felicity: Yes, yes Queer book club sounds good! Haven’t been to the city library yet but I go past it on my bus on the way to work and it looks very funky. You can be on official poster making duties and the the blog spot thing - send me da link when ur done! yay!!

Creation of Blog

Hey all :)!

As you can see, this is a work-in-progress. I still am working out the HTML etc for our site so its all beautiful. If you have any suggestions, we actually have an email address :O yes thats right!!

brisbanequeerbookclub@live.com

- peace and love, Narayana