Dancer from the Dance by Andrew Holleran

Meeting at the usual place, The Shakespeare Hotel, 200 Devonshire Street, Surry Hills, at 7.00pm on Thursday 12 March 2026, we will be discussing Dancer from the Dance by Alan Hollinghurst.

Dancer from the Dance is a 1978 gay novel. A defining work of gay fiction after Stonewall but before the AIDS crisis. Themes include beauty, loneliness, the pursuit of pleasure and the fleeting nature of youth.

Contact dalemills (at) cantab.net for a free pdf or Kindle-compatible file.

The Shakespeare Hotel is a busy inner-city pub, but we meet in a semi-private room upstairs, conducive for discussion. Many of us arrive around 6.00pm for drinks or food, and the meeting starts at 7.00pm. The format is that we have a focused discussion on the book till about 8.00pm, and then the meeting formally closes. Almost everyone stays back to chat about the book or anything else.

The Shakespeare is a 10 min walk from Central train station, almost opposite Surrey Hills Light Rail and local parking is reasonable. Access to the room requires walking up two small flights of stairs