Join Shelf Life Books and Kevin Allen for a talk about his book Our Past Matters: Stories of Gay Calgary. Registration for audience attendance is recommended and appreciated!
The talk will be followed by an open mic, where audience members can share their stories of Gay Calgary or read poems or prose pieces (with a 6-8 minute time slot limit). If you identify as a part of the 2SLGBTQ+ community and would like to participate, then please let us know at events@shelflifebooks.ca! You can also sign up before the event, space permitted.
Masks are voluntary, but appreciated!
ABOUT THE BOOK
Kevin Allen’s, Our Past Matters: Stories of Gay Calgary walks the reader through the back alleys and underground gathering spaces of the city’s early gay community. Meet the characters, martyrs and heroes who helped forge the LGBTQ2 human rights we have today. This entertaining and authoritative account of a Calgary few know is a major addition to the many-hued and complex tales of the city. He reveals: “We were here, and we always have been.”
“You are going to read about some amazing people, places, and times in these pages… There is no one better equipped than Kevin Allen to give us a tour.” – John Ibbitson, The Globe and Mail. Governor General’s History Award for Excellence in Community Programming Finalist 2019. Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist 2020.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kevin is the Research Lead of the Calgary Gay History Project, a research collective working to uncover and preserve stories from Calgary’s LGBTQ2 past. The Project achieved national recognition twice at the Governor General’s History Awards, and its research has been covered in local and national media. Kevin was the inaugural Historian in Residence at Calgary’s New Central Library in November 2018, where he launched his bestselling book, Our Past Matters: Stories of Gay Calgary.
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