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Day: April 7, 2015

BOOK REVIEW: Out of Orange: A Memoir

Posted on by Eric Page

coverornageBook Review

Out of Orange: A Memoir 

Catherine Wolters
Catherine Cleary Wolters—the inspiration for Alex Vause from Orange Is the New Black (the TV show based on  Piper Kerman’s sensational #1  bestseller) tells her story in her own words for the first time in this book which is a powerful, surprising memoir about crime and punishment, friendship and marriage, and a life caught in the ruinous drug trade and beyond.

Told by a woman originally thrust into the spotlight without her permission—Wolters learned about Piper’s memoir in the media—Out of Orange chronicles Wolter’s time in the drug trade, her incarceration, her friendships and acquaintances with odd cellmates, her two marriages, and her complicated relationship with Piper..

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Piper’s ex-girlfriend, friend, and sometimes-romantic partner on the show—tells her true story, offering details and insights that fill in the blanks, set the record straight, but Wolters is not solely defined by her past; she also reflects on her life and the person she is today.

Filled with colourful characters, fascinating tales, painful sobering lessons, and hard-earned wisdom.

 Out in May, but you can place and order now on the publisher’s website here:

 £16.99

BOOK REVIEW: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Posted on by Eric Page

cover simonBook Review

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Becky Albertalli

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing and slowly falling in love with, will be compromised.

More info on the author’s website here: 

Becky Albertalli has given us a very real and sympathetic story of a young man and the ways social media and the internet impact and intersects with younger LGBTQ lives (and all our lives now). She shows us the trauma that this can generate but also the ways in which the empowerment of the web and the mastery of it’s ways , can allow individuals of character and intelligence to take back the agenda and spin it up to suit what and who they are, it’s a refreshing and clever book and an easy read too. The narrative thrust is believeable and engaging and Albertalli’s prose is warm, she likes these characters and I really liked Simon as a character and felt for him as he marks out his own boundaries and defines things on his own term. He grapples with love, self-doubt and the realisation that he can be whatever he likes, it’s a wonderfully life affirming journey and made me smile a lot. There’s so much love in the book it’s a joy to read.

This is a great book for a younger LGBTQ reader, but also a book worth reading for anyone with an interest in a positive and warm coming-out story which is full of heart, emotional  intelligence and just good old fashioned plain common sense and more than a touch of clever sly humor too.

This is magnificently funny and touching in equal measure, and so refreshing to have a young LGBTQ book that’s not riddled with tragedy or shadowed with doubt. With a bright enquiring and loving intelligent and geeky queer character at the heart of the narrative this coming-of-age, coming out story this is a splendid first novel from Becky Albertalli.

 Highly recommended

 For more info or to buy the book see the publisher’s website here:

Out now £12.15

 

Barack Obama to receive 2015 IGLTA Chair Award

Posted on by Paul Gustafson

The International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA) has announced that President Barack Obama will receive its prestigious Chair Award for 2015.

President Barack Obama
President Barack Obama

THE award is presented to an individual or business that has made significant improvements to the landscape of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender travel.

On April 9, White House LGBT Liaison Aditi Hardikar will accept the honour on the President’s behalf at travel association’s Los Angeles convention.

“This administration has gone to great lengths to make the U.S. more welcoming to the global LGBT community and has allowed individuals with HIV/AIDS to travel freely,“ says IGLTA Board Chair Dan Melesurgo. “We all know travel opens minds and changes perceptions. The actions of President Obama and his administration certainly have created a more positive experience for all of us.”  

In 2009, Obama lifted a 22-year-old travel ban that prevented visitors and immigrants with HIV from entering the United States, saying that it “was rooted in fear rather than fact.” A year later the Department of State revised standards for gender designation on passports, making it easier for transgender people to travel.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection also eased entry into the United States by expanding the definition of family to include domestic partners in 2012 and to recognise children of same-sex parents regardless of adoption status in 2014.

The Chair Award will be presented as part of the opening keynote session of what will be IGLTA’s 32nd Annual Global Convention.

Aditi Hardikar says:  “It’s an honour to accept this award on behalf President Obama for his leadership in helping eliminate barriers for the LGBT community around the world. The United States places great importance on the protection and promotion of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all people, including LGBT persons globally.”

For more information, click here:

Or on Facebook:

Or: twitter.com/iglta

Owen Jones joins Labour’s Nancy Platts to give young people a voice through the ballot box

Posted on by Besi

From zero hours contracts to rental properties, politics impacts young people’s lives on a daily basis but do they feel properly represented?

Owen Jones
Owen Jones

NANCY Platts, Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven will be hosting an event with Guardian columnist and author of The Demonisation of the Working Class and The Establishment – And How They Get Away With It, Owen Jones, on Wednesday, April 8, at Dorset Gardens Methodist Church, Dorset Gardens, Brighton BN2 1RL from 7pm to 8.30pm to give young people a voice in the lead up to the General Election and to discuss the issues that matter to them.

Nancy PlattsNancy said: “It’s great to have Owen Jones coming to support my campaign, I want to reach out to as many groups as possible in this campaign, to hear what they have to say and if elected on May 7 be able to represent their views in Parliament. In Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven there is a choice between more of the same with the Conservative MP or Labour’s plan of a ban on zero-hour contracts, guaranteed apprenticeships and lower tuition fees”

The event will consist of a panel discussion between the audience and Nancy and Owen, who will be joined in the discussion by: Solomon Curtis, Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Wealden, who if elected will become the youngest MP ever. He studies at University of Sussex and is involved in student politics and Sian Carey, the Chair of Brighton and Hove Young Labour. Sian is studying at college and although unable to vote at this election because she is too young, is an avid political campaigner.

An evening of lively discussion and debate is promised with the panel on how Labour can engage young people, get them vocal and voting in the most important election in a generation!

To get tickets, click here:

For more information, click here:

 

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