image of person or book cover 1194304569957254388.jpg
Image courtesy of publisher's website.
y separately published work icon Growing Up Queer in Australia anthology   autobiography  
Issue Details: First known date: 2019... 2019 Growing Up Queer in Australia
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'I marked the day in my adolescent diary with a single blank page.
The mantle of “queer migrant” compelled me to keep going – to go further.
I never “came out” to my parents. I felt I owed them no explanation.
All I heard from the pulpit were grim hints.
I became acutely aware of the parts of myself that were unpalatable to queers who grew up in the city.
I was thirty-eight and figured it was time to come out to her.
That’s when I know it’s not going anywhere – the gay.
I felt like I had been dunked into an episode of
The L Word and I wasn’t given the script.
No amount of YouTube videos and queer think pieces prepared me for this moment.
My queerness was born in a hot dry land that was never ceded.
I finally admitted what my feelings for
Dirty Dancing–era Patrick Swayze had clearly been indicating for some time.
Even now, I sometimes think that I don’t know my own desire.

'Compiled by celebrated author and journalist Benjamin Law, Growing Up Queer in Australia assembles voices from across the spectrum of LGBTIQA+ identity. Spanning diverse places, eras, genders, ethnicities and experiences, these are the stories of growing up queer in Australia.

'For better or worse, sooner or later, life conspires to reveal you to yourself, and this is growing up.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Exhibitions

17218080
17024102
18007744
18005697
22512835
19567105

Teaching Resources

Teaching Resources

This work has teaching resources.

Teachers' notes via publisher's website.

Notes

  • Content indexing in process.

Contents

* Contents derived from the Collingwood, Fitzroy - Collingwood area, Melbourne - North, Melbourne, Victoria,:Black Inc. , 2019 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Introduction, Benjamin Law , single work autobiography (p. ix-xii)
Freedom of Heart, Holly Throsby , single work autobiography (p. 1-5)
Shame and Forgiveness, David Marr , single work essay (p. 6-9)
How to Be Both, Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen , single work autobiography (p. 10-15)
Rob, and Queer Family, Nayuka Gorrie , single work autobiography (p. 16-21)
Caritas, Jack Kirne , single work autobiography (p. 22-32)
St Louis, Oliver Reeson , single work autobiography (p. 33-39)
Boobs, Rags and Judy Blume, Phoebe Hart , single work autobiography (p. 40-45)
From Dreams to Living, Nadine Smith , single work autobiography (p. 46-50)
The Most Natural of Things, Justine Hyde , single work autobiography (p. 51-56)
Binary School, Roz Bellamy , single work autobiography (p. 57-62)
Why I've Stopped Coming Out to My Mum, Vivian Quynh Pham , single work autobiography (p. 63-69)
Training to Be Me, Cindy Zhou , single work autobiography (p. 70-79)
The Watering Hole, Samuel Leighton-Dore , single work autobiography (p. 80-83)
Car Windows, Tim Sinclair , single work autobiography (p. 84-90)
Bent Man Running, Steve Dow , single work autobiography (p. 91-95)
The Bent Bits are the Best Bits, Jax Jacki Brown , single work autobiography (p. 96-103)
Reunion, Kelly Parry , single work autobiography (p. 104-108)
You Can Take the Queer Out of the Country, M'Ck McKeague , single work autobiography (p. 109-113)
The Risk, Thom Mitchell , single work autobiography (p. 114-126)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Collingwood, Fitzroy - Collingwood area, Melbourne - North, Melbourne, Victoria,: Black Inc. , 2019 .
      image of person or book cover 1194304569957254388.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 288p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 6 August 2019.

      ISBN: 9781760640866 (pbk), 9781743821084 (ebook)
      Series: y separately published work icon Growing Up Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2008- 23953800 2008 series - publisher anthology biography

Other Formats

  • Sound recording.
  • Dyslexic edition.

Works about this Work

Life Writing When the World Is Burning: The Year in Kylie Cardell , 2020 single work criticism
— Appears in: Biography , vol. 43 no. 1 2020; (p. 1-8)
'It is no surprise that in Australia this year a great deal of life writing has continued to emerge in conjunction with pressing social and political issues. The ongoing national crises of refugee and asylum seeker policy, gendered abuse, and racial discrimination continue to surface in both political and literary arenas, while unprecedented bushfires have decimated the country, bringing climate change back onto the public agenda with new fury. The right of individuals to live with dignity, in safety, and free from fear—and the ongoing challenges to these rights suffered in public and domestic domains—is a connecting thread across the year’s life writing and a theme the genre is uniquely equipped to amplify.' (Introduction)
We Must Begin Atul Joshi , 2020 single work short story
— Appears in: Peril : An Asian-Australian Journal , no. 42 2020;
Unrequited Love : Diary of an Accidental Activist; Growing Up Queer in Australia Geraldine Fela , 2020 single work review
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , vol. 44 no. 1 2020; (p. 130-132)

'Both Dennis Altman’s autobiographic Unrequited Love: Diary of an Accidental Activist and the edited anthology Growing up Queer in Australia are engaging books rich in insights into queer life and politics in Australia.' (Introduction)

Book Review : Growing Up Queer in Australia Anna Westbrook , 2019 single work review
— Appears in: ArtsHub , August 2019;

— Review of Growing Up Queer in Australia 2019 anthology autobiography

'Edited by Benjamin Law, this collection of over 50 voices offers solace for all those who knew the graze of safety in silence.'

August in Nonfiction Caitlin McGregor , 2019 single work column
— Appears in: Overland [Online] , August 2019;

— Review of #MeToo : Stories from the Australian Movement 2019 anthology poetry essay autobiography ; Yellow City Ellena Savage , 2019 selected work essay ; Growing Up Queer in Australia 2019 anthology autobiography
Books Roundup : It Sounded Better in My Head, Growing Up Queer in Australia, From Here On, Monsters Ellen Cregan , Chad Parkhill , Fernanda Dahlstrom , 2019 single work review
— Appears in: Kill Your Darlings [Online] , August 2019;

— Review of It Sounded Better in My Head Nina Kenwood , 2019 single work novel ; Growing Up Queer in Australia 2019 anthology autobiography ; From Here On, Monsters Elizabeth Bryer , 2019 single work novel
Benjamin Law (ed.) Growing Up Queer in Australia. Michael Jongen , 2019 single work review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , September 2019;

— Review of Growing Up Queer in Australia 2019 anthology autobiography

'These personal essays in Growing Up Queer in Australia are full of insight and self-reflection. The queer community can take great pride in the quality of the stories and the voices that represent it.' (Introduction)

August in Nonfiction Caitlin McGregor , 2019 single work column
— Appears in: Overland [Online] , August 2019;

— Review of #MeToo : Stories from the Australian Movement 2019 anthology poetry essay autobiography ; Yellow City Ellena Savage , 2019 selected work essay ; Growing Up Queer in Australia 2019 anthology autobiography
Book Review : Growing Up Queer in Australia Anna Westbrook , 2019 single work review
— Appears in: ArtsHub , August 2019;

— Review of Growing Up Queer in Australia 2019 anthology autobiography

'Edited by Benjamin Law, this collection of over 50 voices offers solace for all those who knew the graze of safety in silence.'

Unrequited Love : Diary of an Accidental Activist; Growing Up Queer in Australia Geraldine Fela , 2020 single work review
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , vol. 44 no. 1 2020; (p. 130-132)

'Both Dennis Altman’s autobiographic Unrequited Love: Diary of an Accidental Activist and the edited anthology Growing up Queer in Australia are engaging books rich in insights into queer life and politics in Australia.' (Introduction)

We Must Begin Atul Joshi , 2020 single work short story
— Appears in: Peril : An Asian-Australian Journal , no. 42 2020;
Life Writing When the World Is Burning: The Year in Kylie Cardell , 2020 single work criticism
— Appears in: Biography , vol. 43 no. 1 2020; (p. 1-8)
'It is no surprise that in Australia this year a great deal of life writing has continued to emerge in conjunction with pressing social and political issues. The ongoing national crises of refugee and asylum seeker policy, gendered abuse, and racial discrimination continue to surface in both political and literary arenas, while unprecedented bushfires have decimated the country, bringing climate change back onto the public agenda with new fury. The right of individuals to live with dignity, in safety, and free from fear—and the ongoing challenges to these rights suffered in public and domestic domains—is a connecting thread across the year’s life writing and a theme the genre is uniquely equipped to amplify.' (Introduction)
Last amended 9 Mar 2022 10:11:28
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