Join us to celebrate the launch of Leilah King's poetry collection ‘We Are Hungry for Androgyny’
We Are Hungry for Androgyny is filled with wit, chaos, beauty and rage. In her second collection Leilah King shares her experiences navigating the world as a butch, half-Iranian gay woman. Her poems touch on her dual heritage and her experience of queerness. She explores how these identities intersect, balancing the expectations of her Persian heritage with her sexuality and gender nonconformity.
Leilah will be reading poems from the book, discussing her work and taking questions with Laurie Gallagher.
After the event, there'll be time to mingle with music provided by LEXX, creator and DJ of Soft Butch Bristol.
Leilah will be signing books at the end of the event.
“An important addition to the queer canon, celebrating and detailing the wide cinema of us”
— Joelle Taylor, poet and playwright
“Original, open-eyed and luminous, these poems are a testament to curiosity and learning. With sharp flashes of song and humour, We Are Hungry for Androgyny zigzags between the personal, the political and all the places they meet”
— Sophia Blackwell, poet and author
“We Are Hungry For Androgyny oozes emotional gravity and humour. Like good football, Leilah’s poems swerve and ascend, only to land at exactly where they should. King possesses such command over her material, this collection is like a warm clever friend. One who surprises me with their intimate and intricately shaped stories”
— Karen McLeod, writer and performer
“This collection is so full and whole. Leilah honours all of her identities in ways that most people only dream of. Her poetry is a roadmap for self-acceptance, true, brutal, yet, warm and comforting”
— Muneera Pilgrim, poet, cultural producer, writer, broadcaster and speaker
Leilah King is a half-Iranian queer footballer, mental health advocate, and stand-up poet. Her debut poetry collection Midnight Picnics in Tehran was published by Burning Eye Books. She is the co-founder and host of Time of the Month Open Mic, a nurturing and supportive performance space for female/ trans/nonbinary/GNC performers in Bristol.
Leilah grew up in Wales and started writing poetry in her teens as an escape from her feelings of alienation. Football has been part of her life since she was six. Attending Bristol Academy, Leilah has played for various teams including Brighton and Hove Albion as well as in the Welsh Premier League. She is now an FA-accredited coach. Leilah featured in Rosemary Baker’s Channel 4 film showcasing Lisa Luxx’s poem ‘Lesbian’. She was commissioned to write poems about football for Nationwide’s Voices campaign.
Headline performances include Bristol Old Vic, Poetry Café in London, Leeds Poetry Festival, WOMAD Festival and Cheltenham Literature Festival. Leilah’s poetry is inspired by her Iranian heritage. Leilah’s mum is from Shiraz. Her grandfather was a notable Ayatollah, writer and poet. Leilah spent many childhood summers in bustling Tehran and wandering the beautiful parks in the city of poets, Shiraz. Today, Leilah’s work interweaves themes of patriarchy, discrimination and mental health, in reference to her experience as a gender non-conforming queer woman.
Laurie Gallagher is a Bristol butch who completed a degree in literature many years ago and still loves to read and memorise poetry. Laurie is currently working in mental health while training as a child and adolescent psychotherapist.
