An Unexpected Party with Ash Taylor and Elizabeth Bourke

Co-published by Get YA Words Out and edited by Seth Malacari, An Unexpected Party brings together the stories of emerging authors from the LGBTQIA+ community.

From fantastical realms to real-world struggles, this anthology champions queer identity by challenging stereotypes and exploring the many facets of identity. Written with wit, heart and honesty, these stories take queer protagonists outside the box of young adult romance and centre them at the heart of stories that involve magic, paranormal beings and adventure.

Featuring trans and gender-diverse voices – asexual, aromantic, bisexual and more – the stories in An Unexpected Party are as diverse as their writers.

Ash Taylor is a man of transgender experience, born and raised on Gumbaynggirr country on the mid-north coast of Australia. From a young age he was always telling and reading stories, and this fascination with words and tales has followed him throughout his life. Ash is currently living on Anaiwan country in Armidale, New South Wales, where he is pursuing a Bachelor of Media and Communications at the University of New England, majoring in Writing and Publishing.

Elizabeth Bourke (she/her) is a young writer living on unceded Dharawal land. Her writing tangles nature, technology and queerness. She was highly commended for Express Media’s 2022 Catalyse Nonfiction Prize. Her work has been featured in Island, Newcomers Journal, and won third place in the 2022 Honi Soit Fiction Writing Competition. She is an alumnus of Express Media’s ToolkitsLITE: Fiction program.