Re-writing Gay Men’s Lives

A dialogue with authors Walt Odets & Danny Ramadan on trauma, identity, & healing.

Despite long histories of stigma and shame, separation and isolation, gay communities are diverse, creative, and resilient. With lives simultaneously enriched and challenged by intersections of race, gender, and nationality, these communities have woven together rich stories and narratives (fiction and non- fiction) to describe their experiences. Drawing on these histories, gay writers offer newly imagined futures of love, solidarity, sex, and healing.

About the authors:

Walt Odets, a psychologist and author from Berkeley, California, offers insight into the uniqueness and possibilities of gay life today. His new book, Out of the Shadows: Reimagining Gay Men’s Lives, chronicles and explores the moving personal experiences of gay men of diverse ages and backgrounds, all seeking a more authentic sense of self, self-acceptance, self-realization and sexual expression, all while living with feelings of shame and guilt in a new era of the HIV epidemic.

Danny Ramadan is an award-winning queer author, public speaker, and LGBTQ-refugees activist living in Vancouver. His writing explores the topics of trauma, migration, sexuality, and journeys to find self and community. Danny’s 2017 novel, The Clothesline Swing, tells the story of two lovers in Syria, Canada, and places in between.

Walt and Danny will share their writing, offer reflections on what their writings offer to gay men in search of self and community, and answer questions from the audience.

For more information or to register, please phone 604.488.1001 or email [email protected].
ASL interpretation will be offered. This event takes place on the unceded lands of the Coast Salish peoples.

This group is open to self-identified men (trans, cis, and other men), two-spirit and non-binary folks who also identify as gay, bi, queer, asexual, and/or as guys who are into/or have sex with guys (for any reason – including for work).