Travis Alabanza

I, I feel a little bit guilty about introducing people, 'cause what I highlight might, might not be what they want to highlight.

You know, I had this, um, this conversation with the performance artist and playwright and poet Travis Alabanza.

They are one of my favorite people on earth, and an artist who has really provoked me to think, um, really expansively and imaginatively, not only about the art we consume, but, like, how we as human beings are art, right? We, we-

Mm-hmm

Yeah.

Uncertain, unsure of herself, and I think that says a lot.

You know, to quote Travis Alabanza again, you know, they said to me, "Being the first to do anything is usually not an honor.

It actually says more about the systems that we're attempting to operate within." And I think about that a lot.

Um, and we worked with a really great researcher called Viren Swami, who's professor at Anglia Ruskin, um, and took some of the things that he was writing about, and we hosted, you know, this interactive, almost like speed dating kind of event.

Um, and it was hosted by two, like, queer artists, Travis Alabanza and Shay Shay.

Um, and it basically kind of introduced queer communities to lots of concepts that were familiar, but now in the academic sense.

Um, and we got some really lovely feedback from that, and then afterwards, Viren kind of rewrote his, um, a second edition of his book Attraction Explai- Explained, and when he did it, he included more research about LGBT-

And yeah, 'cause they're a mixed family, Black and Asian, and so I wanted to- that to come across clearly but not be what the story's about.

Do you know what I mean? And then with some of my other books, a poet and a academic called Keith Jarrett has read some of my books first, but I've also had another poet, Malika Booker, read my Black Flamingo, and then friends like Travis Alabanza would read Only on the Weekends.

And yeah, I just, whoever feels right for the story, often because if there's someone in the book, a character in the book that's outside my lived experience, I will get friends and then also sensitivity readers to check that because I'm really up for that.

I love that actually.