Writing Contest for Queer Youth

Faranza Doctor - Come to Thunder Pride

Thunder Pride launches writing contest for LGBTTSQQ+ youth

Winners of contests for queer youth and their allies will read at Thunder Pride’s annual literary evening, June 11, 2013

Thunder Pride, Northwestern Ontario’s annual celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, two-spirited, queer and questioning (LGBTTQQ) diversity rights, is delighted to announce a writing contest for the region’s queer youth and their allies!

 Now in its third year, Thunder Pride has hosted a very popular literary evening since its inception. Standing-room-only audiences have enjoyed a lively lineup of local queer writers, with headline performances by well-known Canadian guest writers. Vancouver-based storyteller Ivan Coyote and Toronto’s Zoe Whittall delighted audiences in 2011 and 2012, respectively. This June, Thunder Pride will host Toronto-based writer Farzana Doctor, author of Stealing Nasreen and Six Metres of Pavement.

 In 2012, members of the LGBTTQQ youth group The Other 10% contributed their voices to the literary conversation, with two members reading their work. “The audience was just so touched and happy to listen to these two young people’s voices,” says local writer Susan Goldberg, who is chairing the 2013 Thunder Pride Literary Evening. “It became clear pretty much immediately that we needed to include the talents of the younger members of our community in future events.”

 With that in mind, the Thunder Pride Young Adult Writing Competition has been created to inspire Northwestern Ontario’s LGBTTQQ youth to submit and share their writing with their larger community. Youth aged 12–19 have until April 15, 2013, to submit their original, unpublished short stories, essays, monologues, poetry and comics for a chance to win cash prizes and read at the 2013 literary evening. Full contest rules can be found at the Thunder Pride homepage: www.thunderpride.ca.

 “This contest is a way of reaching out to Northwestern Ontario’s queer youth and their allies to let them know that they have an important voice and role in our community,” says Goldberg. “We hope that it will inspire teens to think creatively about issues of diversity and sexuality, to develop their creative writing skills, to build community, and — hopefully! — to have some fun in the process.”

 The Thunder Pride Literary Evening is sponsored by:

· Lakehead University Department of English
· Lakehead University Department of Women’s Studies
· Lakehead University’s Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
· Lakehead University’s Gender Issues Centre
· Lakehead University’s Pride Central
· Northwestern Ontario Writers Workshop (NOWW)
· Northern Woman’s Bookstore
· The Prince Arthur Hotel
· The Sexuality and Gender Equity (SAGE) Working Group
· Thunder Bay Public Libraries