Y Gair #5
The Dyddiau Du newsletter
Howdy!
We’ve been busy setting up for February’s exhibition! Honestly, we were originally going to exhibit like, 12 artists. And now we have 39! Because we like giving ourselves even more work! But all the work is also brilliant, and we wanted to share as many artists’ work as possible, obvs.
You’re free Friday night, right? You don’t have any plans between 6-8pm, right? Well you do now!
Pop in for the launch of our next exhibition and check out all the wonderful work on display. Everyone’s welcome in our Neighbourhood.
February Listings
Don’t forget it’s LGBT+ History Month this February! Why not kiss the queer cutie at the protest (shout out to everyone who is on strike today, Dyddiau Du salutes you), and check out our extra-queer listings for this month:
Yes, you read that right! Not one, but TWO collaborations with Queerdos this month! I won’t spam u with info, but they’re both set to be very exciting — and tickets are already selling like hot baked potatoes over on our Eventbrite.
Queering the Page is a creative writing workshop hosted by our very own Rhys Shanahan, and Queerdos’ founder, Renn Hubbruck-Melly. What does it mean to be a queer writer, writing today? Why is it important to identify queerness in writing/as a writer? What can we learn from queer writers from the past? Join us to discuss, write and share writing!
Queer Words is a night of music and poetry hosted by Queerdos. There will be a (very) limited amount of open mic slots, as we have a stacked list of Featured Artists — CupsofTe, Hard-Boiled Wormo, Christina Thatcher, Max Modell, and Del Haf! Truly a delight. Head to Eventbrite to read up on each act, and book your tix (and your open mic slot!!)
Reconnecting Rainbows Press
We are joined on the 12th by London-based and queer-owned Reconnecting Rainbows Press! They’re embarking on a book tour around the UK in promotion of their new book, Twenty-Eight — an anthology of writing from first-hand survivors of Section 28. 2023 sees the20th anniversary of the reversal of Section 28 in England Wales, and the effects of this harmful legalisation are still felt today. This will be a timely discussion with the editors of the anthology, as well as readings from a few of the book’s contributors, and a chance to be introduced to the incredible work that Reconnecting Rainbows are doing!
Collage Club, 14th
And don’t forget about Cardiff Collage Club on February 14th! That’s right, Valentine’s Day, baby! This will be a Valentines special, doing some collage speed dating. Come on your own, with friends or partners. It's not at all formal, so don't worry! We just want to have a laugh and give you the chance to meet new people. There will still be space for people to collage if they don't want to be involved in the speed dating.
Glue, scissors and collage materials will be available. Feel free to also bring your own collage material, but please don’t bring your own scalpels. We don’t want you to be be arrested.
Book now on Eventbrite.
Alright, now for the fun bit! Featured Poem time!!
This week’s poem is taken from Issue 6 of Fourteen Poems, a queer poetry anthology that publishes — you guessed it — 14 poems by queer writers from all over the world. They’ve recently started publishing single author collections too. The editors @ 14P have truly delicious taste, such as this one from Reece Lyons:
Reece Lyons is a transgender actress, writer, and poet based in London. She is an alumna of the Roundhouse Poetry Collective (2018-19), and is a former Roundhouse Resident Artist, where her work has previously gone viral, accumulating over four million views. Insta/Twitter: @reecelyons_
Find out more about Fourteen Poems here.
Book of the Month
Happy Publication Day to the soft cover release of Queer Square Mile!
While the hardback book has been out for a little while now, we thought we’d revisit it again as, frankly, this is a brilliant collection of short stories and deserves more recognition.
What I, Joshua, has to say about it:
“Queer Square Mile doesn’t just present a chronology of linear queer liberation, or a history lesson, but instead provides a queer canon of literature that celebrates lives lost, hidden, and forgotten. Like all good stories, the ones collected here reflect contemporary (queer) experiences; people living everyday lives, with all the nuances of love, sadness, catharsis, and complications that entails.”
This was taken from my review for Wales Arts Review, which you can read in full here.
As always, our Featured Poems and Book of the Month are from our library, so you can pop in and read them for yourselves!
And that’s that! Weird energy on this one. I’ve spent all week hanging up artwork and drinking lots of sugary coffee
As always, thank you for reading, and we hope you are having a delicious week!
Joshua, Freya and Rhys x
Dyddiau Du
Thurs-Sat 11-6pm, Sun 11-4pm
Capitol Centre, Queen Street, Cardiff, CF10 2HQ
dyddiaudu@gmail.com
Twitter & Instagram: @dyddiaudu
Buy us a Kofi, so we can afford to stay open!