GRAI’s LGBT Classics Book Club have announced the titles they’ll be reading over the next few months, and if you’re a slow reader this give you heaps of times to get a head start.
The club will be digging into Virginia Woolf’s Orlando in June.
Author Virginia Woolf released her satirical novel Orlando: A Biography in 1928. One of Woolf’s most popular works it tells the story of a poet who changes sex from male to female and lives for several centuries.
Considered a feminist classic, it is also a much loved book of people who are transgender. In the book Orlando is a male nobleman in the time of Elizabeth I. When he is around 30 years old he suddenly wakes up having changed sex, becoming female. He lives for another 300 years without ageing and meets many historical figures through the centuries.
Woolf was inspired by her the tumultuous family history of friend and lover Vita Sackville-West. Both were members of the Bloomsbury Group, a collection of writers, academics and philosophers who embraced liberal ideals about sexuality.
The LGBT Classics Book Club will be discussing the book at their June meeting on Wednesday 12th June from 1pm – 3pm at the Pride Centre at 142 James Street Northbridge.
The July book will be Loaded by Christos Tsiolkas which was adapted to the screen as Head On. In August they’ll zoom in on Walk to the End of the World by Suzy McKee, and September’s focus will be Death in Venice by Thomas Mann.
The group will be meeting next Wednesday for their May gathering to discuss James Baldwin’s classic Giovanni’s Room. It’s not too long a read- there’s still time.
Find all the details about the group at the GRAI website. GRAI also hosts an evening book club that focuses on a newer releases.
