About

The UK's biggest and brightest LGBTQ+ literature festival

Presented by New Writing South, in partnership with Marlborough Productions, The Coast is Queer is a festival of talks, books, spoken word and ideas from an LGBTQ perspective.

It brings together an exciting lineup of nationally and internationally acclaimed queer writers, poets, performers and activists in a three-day festival of accessible, lively in-conversation events, workshops, films and discussions celebrating LGBTQ lives and writing.

Featuring Juno Dawson, Laura Kay, Jamie Raines, AFLO The Poet, Joelle Taylor, Okechukwu Nzelu, So Mayer, Liv Wynter, Tasha Suri, Sanah Ahsan and many many more.

Stimulating, surprising, frequently very funny and often provocative, The Coast is Queer invites audiences to dive into fresh perspectives on subjects from lived experience of mental health, LGBTQ lives in Ukraine to bisexuality and hidden queer identities. There’s also spoken word, cabaret and dancing.

Students from the University of Sussex and the University of Brighton are selecting the contributors for the opening day, including YouTuber/influencer Jamie Raines.

A programme of short queer films curated by the BFI will run throughout the weekend.

See the full programme and book tickets at coastisqueer.com

Due to a football match taking place at the AMEX stadium (Sunday 15 October, 4pm) please allow additional time for your journey and that trains and buses will be crowded.

Services will be most busy for 90 minutes prior to kick off. You may have to wait to board a train or a bus due to large queues.

For those driving, there is alternative car parking available on campus:

Head for the Jubilee Multi-Story (P7), Park Village (P8) or Lewes Court (P9). Use the Knights Gate Road entrance (off the A27) to campus to access these car parks.

See the University’s Parking for Visitors, Parking on Football Match Days and Where to Park on Campus pages for further details.

Map of car park locations on University of Sussex campus

For those cycling, bike racks and Brighton Bike share docking stations are available as usual.