This year the UK ran it’s first ever National Festival of LGBT History in Manchester. It was very successful, and there are plans afoot to hold one again in 2016. However, holding it in just one city limits the number of people who can attend. So in 2016 the Festival will be held over several weekends in several different cities. One of those cities will be Bristol. The Festival will be held at the M-Shed (the site of the very successful Revealing Stories exhibition) over the weekend of February 20/21. There will also be a film programme at the Watershed, and hopefully a theatre programme as well.

The Bristol weekend will be run by OutStories Bristol, and we hope that we’ll get a lot of interest in the event from all over the South West and South Wales. More details will follow in due course, but right now the important thing is that we need people to give presentations. Information as to how to apply to be a presenter are available here. The deadline for proposals is June 30th.

As you have probably guessed, a lot of this is my fault, and consequently I’ll be responsible for making a lot of it happen. I don’t have the final say on what presentations get accepted, but I do have some say. I’m very keen to see local history represented, and I want to see plenty of diversity. LGBT history isn’t just about cis white gay men. If you are interested in L, B or T history, or you are non-white, we’d love to hear from you.

By the way, you don’t have to be an academic historian to make a presentation. You could just be someone who has been part of LGBT history and have some memories you can relate. If you are an academic you may also be interested in the associated academic conference, which will take place in Manchester once again next year. The Call for Papers is here.