Pop-up people

On Thursday evening, as part of Camden and Islington LGBT History Month, Paul Burston agreed to bring his own particular brand of literary joie-de-vivre to Waterstones bookshop at Islington Green, as we eagerly took our places amongst the Kathy Lettes and Philippa Gregorys for a "Pop-Up Polari" - the peripatetic version of our regular "peerless gay literary salon".

Mr B opened the show with a nod to Gay History Month and the important role gay writers have to play, despite the difficulty of getting their voices heard (published) in this day and age. And thus he handed the baton over to the winner of 2012's "Polari First Book Prize", the lovely DJ (Diane) Connell.



And what a way to start - as Diane read a very funny extract from her soon-to-be-a-movie Julian Corkle is a Filthy Liar, in which the eponymous teenage hero decides that in order to look cool and stylish at a party he would act butch like his sister (throwing a bottle out of the window), and use some sticky mud from the garden as a substitute for hair-gel - with inevitably disastrous consequences! She is such a wonderful storyteller...





Our very own fave "journo-slut" Alex Hopkins, once more resplendent in his trademark stilettos, read a couple of dark extracts from his unpublished semi-autobiography, focusing on his relationship with his father and the way it influenced his future relationships. Utterly absorbing, these snippets into his life left us all wanting more!



But, inevitably, the star of the show was dear VG (Val) Lee - who could read the telephone directory and would still have us in stitches. Explaining that writing erotica did not come naturally to her ("crochet, yes"), she nevertheless entertained us to her one short story in that genre ( A Slice of Melon):

When Kelly said, “Fancy a shag?” Laura replied, “Don’t mind if I do,” which seemed to satisfy Kelly, although Laura wasn’t too happy with her own choice of words.

"Don’t mind if I do" was what Norma Next Door said to offers of tea, cake, Pringles, and Bacardi and Coke. Fortunately Kelly didn’t know Norma Next Door.

Her second piece was from Shush (both stories are in her anthology As You Step Outside), about the hilarious mishaps of going to the cinema with a rather noisy friend.

Paul continued his theme about the obstacles faced by gay writers as we entered the question and answer section of the evening. We were rather impressed that there were quite a few people in attendance (and not all Polari-ites such as me, John-John, little Tony and Emma), and some very interesting discussions arose in the debate - the impact of digital publishing on the power of the traditional publishing houses, the ascendancy of "safe names" in gay publishing such as Sarah Waters and Alan Hollinghurst possibly at the expense of new talent, and whether there is value in bookshops maintaining a specific LGBT section on their shelves.

A very enjoyable evening, as ever, and one we rounded off in a rather splendid old Victorian pub in trendy Camden Passage...