Living and Loving in Diversity: an Anthology of Australian Multicultural Queer Adventures

Join chief editor Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli, special guests Dr Vanessa Lee and Paul Capsis, as well as a number of contributors for a journey of discovery through queer multicultural multi-faith Australia. Living and Loving in Diversity features more than sixty voices from across the spectrum of sexualities and genders, families and relationships. All book royalties go to the Australian LGBTIQ Multicultural Council (AGMC) to continue its good work with MCMF LGBTIQ communities.

Dr Vanessa Lee of the Yupungathi and Meriam people will speak about the book and her perspectives as an Indigenous woman. Vanessa is in the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney and Cultural Broker and Director at Black Lorikeet.

Other contributors also appearing: Paul Capsis, Alan Maurice, Gary Paramanathan, Wilfred Roach, and Michael Schembri!

About the Book

Sad and funny, sexy and sensitive, angry and insightful: the deeply personal stories in this book reflect a rainbow of experiences and emotions, as diverse as the storytellers themselves.

Annette Xiberras, lesbian Wurundjeri Elder with a Maltese father, provides a Welcome to Book and insights into her Indigenous-migrant family. Filmmakers Tony Ayres and Franco Di Chiera share their experiences telling stories from minority cultures on Australian screens, while Benjamin Law talks queer Asian-Australian identity, and making The Family Law for SBS.

Broadcaster Faustina Agolley talks about being ‘out’ as a woman of colour, and Anton Enus tells us about coming out as a ‘coloured’ gay man in South Africa. Entertainer Paul Capsis reflects on doing Cabaret in the age of Trump while Asiel Adan talks about non-binary gender across the US border in Mexico.

Christos Tsiolkas imagines Ari, the protagonist of his iconic novel Loaded, now middle-aged, during a weekend of mass violence in distant Paris, while Patrick Abboud travels the world so he can come home. Alyena Mohummadally searches for reconciliation between her queer and Muslim identities and Tony Briffa shares a personal story of growing up with intersex variations and the rigidity of Western medicine.

About the Editor

Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli (PhD) is an academic, activist and author at Deakin University. Her primary areas of research, writing and activism are the interweavings of cultural, gender, sexual and family diversity. This book has been created by the Australian LGBTIQ Multicultural Council (AGMC), of which Maria is a founding member.