This month we celebrate Midsumma Festival, a chance to spotlight some of the wonderful LGBTQIA+ authors and stories that the library has to offer. Literature is a way to learn and understand different perspectives and it has been a pleasure to see the Rainbow Collection, stories about or written by LGBTQIA+ authors, expand over the past few years.

Joining us for a chat this month is Dr Maria Pallotta Chiarolli, writer, researcher, lecturer and consultant on the issues of cultural, gender and sexual diversity and the editor of the wonderful collection Living and Loving in Diversity, An Anthology of Australian Multicultural Queer Adventures. In this 2018 compilation of true LGBTQIA+ stories, we explore the intersectionality of race and sexuality, the challenges and joys of finding safe spaces and communities here in Australia. 

Tim also speaks with YA author Holden Sheppard, about his novel Invisible Boys a ground breaking Young Adult story that delves into the complexities of coming out as gay in a small regional Australian town.