Sydney Gay Men of Letters

PLEASE NOTE! FOR THIS MEETING, WE WILL BE MEETING AT THE IMPERIAL IN ERSKINEVILLE!

Meeting at 7.00pm, Thursday June 12, upstairs at the Imperial Hotel, 35 Erskineville Road, we will be discussing Christopher Isherwood's A Single Man (1964).

Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man follows a day in the life of George, a middle-aged English professor living in Los Angeles in the early 1960s. Grieving the death of his partner Jim, George navigates the routines of an ordinary day while internally confronting loneliness, loss, and the quiet resilience it takes to go on living. With elegant prose and emotional restraint, Isherwood offers a quietly radical portrayal of gay life at a time when such stories were rarely told.

Hard copies available from The Bookshop, 207 Oxford St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010. Also Kindle and Amazon for about $16. Easily available through local libraries. Or send me an email at dalemills (at) cantab.net for a free PDF. A movie adaptation can be found on youtube, staring Colin Firth.

The Imperial Hotel is famous as one of the oldest gay pubs in Sydney. We will be meeting upstairs in the 'Ruby Room.' Ask at the bar for details. This last minute change of venue is because the Shakespeare is closing for a couple of weeks for renovations. The Imperial is 5-10 mins walk from Erskineville and Newtown train stations.

Meeting at 7.00pm, Thursday July 10, at the usual place, upstairs at the Shakespeare Hotel, 200 Devonshire Street, Surry Hills, Sydney, we will be discussing Fairyland by Sumner Locke Elliott.

Fairyland is a semi-autobiographical novel ­tracing the coming-of-age of a boy growing up in 1930s Australia. Against the backdrop of a conservative society, he navigates his identity, ambition, and the painful costs of self-invention. With wit, grace, and emotional depth, Elliott explores the illusions we create to survive—and the truths we must face to truly live.

Hard copies available from The Bookshop, 207 Oxford St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010. Some hard copies available through inter-library loan from local libraries. Or send me an email at dalemills (at) cantab.net for a free PDF.

The Shakespeare Hotel is a lively pub in Sydney's inner west, but the semi-private rooms upstairs are conducive to conversation. We will be meeting in the Two Tables room (look for the sign or ask at the bar). Getting to the room requires walking up two small flights of stairs.

The Shakespeare is a 10 min walk from Central train station, almost opposite Surrey Hills Light Rail and local parking is reasonable.

Meeting at 7.00pm, Thursday August 14, upstairs at the Shakespeare Hotel, 200 Devonshire Street, Surry Hills, Sydney, we will be discussing City of Night by John Rechy.

The City of Night is a groundbreaking 1963 novel that follows a nameless young hustler as he drifts across America's underworld cities - New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New Orleans.
This novel is a kaleidoscope. Cheap motels, late-night diners, outcasts, drag queens, lonely old men. All searching for connection. A friendly word. A simple touch. City of Night is a seminal work of gay literature, exploring the loneliness of being on the fringe.

Hard copies available from The Bookshop, 207 Oxford St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010. Kindle copies for about $23 and paperback $51. Some hard copies available from local libraries, including City of Sydney and Inner West. Or send me an email at dalemills (at) cantab.net for a free PDF.

The Shakespeare Hotel is a lively pub in Sydney's inner west, but the semi-private rooms upstairs are conducive to conversation. We will be meeting upstairs in the Two Tables room (look for the sign or ask at the bar). Getting to the room requires walking up two small flights of stairs.

The Shakespeare is a 10 min walk from Central train station, almost opposite Surrey Hills Light Rail and local parking is reasonable.