What we’re about
Sydney Gay Men of Letters is a book club for classic gay male writing. Books chosen will be fairly easily available, either from local bookshops, The Bookshop (207 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst), local council libraries, or free soft copies from the organiser (write to me at dalemills@cantab.net).
Although almost everyone there will be a gay man (as the title suggests), non-gay men and women are welcome. The only request, really, is that you read, or attempt to read, or listen, to the book.
Feel free to join the Facebook group to keep in touch with other members. https://www.facebook.com/groups/636542215866313
Upcoming events
5
Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima
The Shakespeare Hotel, 200 Devonshire Street, Sydney, AUMeeting at the usual place, The Shakespeare Hotel (up stairs), 200 Devonshire Street, Surry Hills, at 7.00pm on Thursday December 11, we will be discussing Yukio Mishima's Confessions of a Mask.
Confessions of a Mask (1949) is around 250 pages in most English editions. It is a semi-autobiographical novel about a young man grappling with his hidden homosexuality in militarist Japan. The narrator feels compelled to wear a “mask” of social conformity while secretly consumed by homoerotic fantasies and violent imagery. Mishima explores themes of beauty, shame, desire, and the tension between private and public lives.
The novel’s frankness about sexuality and inner conflict made it both shocking and groundbreaking in postwar Japanese literature.
Hard copies are available from The Bookshop, 207 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst and soft copies from Amazon. Contact dalemills (at) cantab.net for a free pdf or Kindle-compatible file.
Local library copies are available from City of Sydney, Inner West and Randwick.
Numerous book reviews can be found at https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=conressions%20of%20a%20mask
The novel has not been turned into a movie, but apparently there are allusions to its themes in the very arty movie, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985). A free copy can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQaNkA0l_8U&rco=1
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.
4 attendees
A Thief's Journal (1949) by Jean Genet
The Shakespeare Hotel, 200 Devonshire Street, Sydney, AU## Details
Meeting at the usual place, The Shakespeare Hotel, 200 Devonshire Street, Surry Hills, at 7.00pm on Thursday 8 January 2026, we will be discussing A Thief's Journal by Jean Genet.
This partially autobiographical novel explores the author's progress through 1930s Europe, wearing little and enduring hunger, contempt, and fatigue. The protagonist is 'hot for crime' and romanticizes criminality and homosexuality.
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 further chat about the book or anything else.
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3 attendees
Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood
The Shakespeare Hotel, 200 Devonshire Street, Sydney, AUMeeting at the usual place, The Shakespeare Hotel, 200 Devonshire Street, Surry Hills, at 7.00pm on Thursday 12 Feburary 2026, we will be discussing Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood.
It is a semi-autobiographical novel set in 1930s Berlin, portraying the city’s poverty, decadence, and political unrest through bars, cabarets, and boarding houses, where queer and gender-nonconforming people lived and socialised. Meanwhile, the Nazis rose to power.
The novel inspired the musical Cabaret and its 1972 film adaptation starring Liza Minnelli.
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 further chat about the book or anything else.
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4 attendees
Past events
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