Queer Books

Our book club is designed for disabled adults who enjoy reading and thoughtful discussion. The club explores a range of accessible books across different genres throughout the year. Each month, members read an assigned book and receive a small set of questions to think about while reading. When the group meets, discussion is open and welcoming, encouraging participants to share their ideas and interpretations. The focus is not only on reading, but on learning how to engage with stories, exploring characters, themes and different perspectives while building confidence in discussions. Our first book is **Gregor the Overlander**, a fast-paced adventure about family, responsibility, and being pulled into a world you don’t understand. It’s an accessible, engaging story that gives us plenty to explore together through discussion and shared thinking. **Themes:** Responsibility & growing up, war & violence, family & belonging **Trigger warnings:** * **Graphic:** Death, Violence, Animal death * **Moderate:** War, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail * **Minor:** Dementia, Torture, Confinement

**Tickets ($30) - BOOKINGS CLOSED:** [https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/queer-social-dinner-gays-vs-lesbians-tickets-1989351410621](https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/queer-social-dinner-gays-vs-lesbians-tickets-1989351410621) Please join us at Welcome to Brunswick for a social dinner. We have two rooms at the front of the venue booked, one room for the gays, and one for the lesbians (bi/pan folk are of course welcome). Your ticket includes a curated selection from the small bites menu and a generous amount of chips to share. Selection includes vegan gyoza, fried chicken with kewpie mayo, and pumpkin arancini - these can be adjusted for those with dietary requirements. For those looking for a more substantial dinner on top of what's included, there are great options available on the menu. Whether you're looking for new friends, romantic connections, or just a fun night out, we'd love to welcome you to join us. This event is casual and relatively unstructured; great for people who want to chat to strangers over a bite to eat and some drinks. Booking is strictly limited to 16 people per room. If you have any dietary requirements, please reach out to us after purchasing your ticket and we will request the necessary adjustments :)

Join your fellow LGBTQIA+ folks for a social evening of board games at Marché Board Games Cafe. We have access to the games library at the cafe. If you have a game that you want to share, please feel free to bring it along. We play all sorts of games - card games, party games, strategy games - and we're happy to teach new players. Groups for games usually form between 6:30-6:45, so it's important to try arrive on time to ensure you're allocated to a game/group. Anyone arriving late may have to wait for a game if all groups have started. The cafe has drinks and food available. Check out their menu here: https://mbgcafe.com.au/menu.pdf We only accept payment at the time of booking to reserve your spot. This means you will need to pay the booking amount via PayPal at the time of booking to confirm your spot. If you can't make it to the event, please ensure you get in touch by messaging the event hosts or emailing rainbowbg.melbourne@gmail.com at least one day before the event, and we can reverse your payment via PayPal. The cafe does NOT have a liquor licence. Consuming alcohol on the premises is illegal, and will result in any members being banned from future events. See you on Thursday!

🛸🛸 **The Hitchhiker's guide to redundancy: a 'mostly harmless' manual for surviving the professional void** 🛸🛸 What do you do when your career is unexpectedly demolished to make way for a corporate bypass? Too many professionals treat redundancy like the end of the universe, spiralling into the bureaucratic nebula of unemployment without a map. This session chronicles a six-month odyssey through the unknown, transforming a vulnerable period of professional upheaval into a practical, comedic survival guide. **What you’ll hear:** ✨ **How not to panic:** How to steady your ship when the corporate ground disappears beneath you ✨ **What to pack:** Cultivating the core resilience and mindsets needed to navigate sudden career transitions ✨ **Deploying your networking Babel Fish:** Translating your experience into a language the market actually understands ✨ **Navigating the bureaucratic nebula:** Managing the identity shift, the job search logistics, and the administrative void without losing your sanity ✨ **Embarking on your next chapter:** Turning an unexpected full stop into a launching pad for a career that actually fits your trajectory As long as you're packing resilience to brace the knocks (and your sense of humour), you’ll never truly be lost in space. A vulnerable, funny, and no-BS roadmap to surviving the void and finding your way back to solid ground. **👍🏼 The Speaker** ✨ **Alex Clarke** is a Product and UX designer with over 8 years of experience, who after spending years building a successful professional track record, found himself facing the ultimate corporate plot twist: sudden redundancy. Alex’s story is a highly common and relevant reality for many professionals today, as organisations face mounting economic pressures to cut costs and restructure. Alex speaks candidly, sharing raw, hilarious and deeply practical truths about what it takes to pivot after a setback. By turning his own unexpected transition into a survival guide for the current job market, Alex proves that losing a job doesn't mean losing your direction. Alex’s story has a happy ending too- as he’s happily found a new job as an Incubation Designer for Coles. Down, down, prices are down. Please. 🙏 📌 **The details:** * **Date:** 6 pm, 11 June * **Host:** Melbourne Design Thinking Meetup * **Special Guests:** Alex Clarke * **Refreshments included:** Pizza and fizz!

**走进《解忧杂货店》：一封封回信背后的人性与温暖** 《解忧杂货店》自出版以来感动无数读者，成为东野圭吾最具代表性的作品之一。书中穿越时空的来信与回信，串联起关于选择、遗憾、成长与救赎的人生故事。 本次公益文学讲座特别邀请《解忧杂货店（50万册纪念爱藏版）》责任编辑，与大家分享这部经典作品背后的出版故事、创作魅力，以及它为何能够持续打动全球读者。 🎙 **特邀嘉宾** **陈宣彤 Iris** 皇冠文化集团《解忧杂货店（50万册纪念爱藏版）》责任编辑 **皇冠文化集团**创立于1954年，是台湾历史悠久且极具影响力的出版机构之一。长期致力于推广华文文学与世界文学，出版过众多畅销及经典作品，包括东野圭吾等国际知名作家的代表作，在华文出版界享有盛誉。

[Book your tickets!](https://www.trybooking.com/DLZWW) Love Letter to the 90s is an intimate, funny, and deeply moving storytelling cabaret by Cherry Charleston that reflects on what it meant to come out as a lesbian in the 1990s, a time when being gay was still illegal in Tasmania and queer lives existed without legal recognition or protection. Through personal stories of love, protest, and survival, Cherry recalls a decade of the evolution of queer rights alongside moments of joy. Sing along with us to iconic 90s queer anthems. The show is by turns raw, nostalgic, and celebratory: a love letter to chosen family, hard-won visibility, and the songs that carried a generation through isolation into pride. Trigger warning: this work references discrimination, death, and the impact of systemic homophobia.

After one of the biggest attendances ever, 150 people, we are back for our anticipated Friday social's at UBQ. Friending will start around 7:30pm. This time, UBQ are launching a new look bar and we are there to help! This event is ticketed: [UBQ bar launch ](https://www.trybooking.com/DMPIW) 📍 UBQ 🕕 6PM – LATE - Arrive anytime! 🍻 **Happy Hour 6–8pm** * $8 Basics ✨ * $8 Tap Beers 🍺 * $12 Aperols 🍊 * PLUS — Carlton is now on tap 🍻 ALL welcome, bring all. Two hosts to greet and welcome you whilst mixing and moving you around to meet, connect and network with like minded people. Enjoy a fun and friendly atmosphere with plenty of time to connect—whether you’re coming solo or with friends. Expect great conversations, new faces, and a space where everyone belongs 🏳️‍🌈 Plus, we’ve got you covered with: 💃 Fabulous drag shows 🔥 Energetic Gogo boys 🍓 Fresh fruit platter to share Come as you are, bring your good vibes, and leave with new connections ✨

It's Footscray's famous Drag Bingo! We promise there is no drag bingo like it, it's famous for a reason! Join your fabulous drag host for an evening of fun bingo games, camp drag shows, comedy, cocktails, prizes & much more! [(Link to booking)](https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/825729) It's just $12 to play with over $100 in guaranteed prizes to give away including a $50 bar tab, $50 cash, and other drink and prize giveaways throughout the night. You can also add a cocktail or meal package to your ticket for the full Pride of our Footscray experience! Doors open 6:30pm and balls drop at 7:30pm sharp. Please ensure you allow plenty of time to be seated and get your food and drink before the show starts!

Debutante is a monthly non-competitive showcase for emerging drag performers, held at Pride of our Footscray. The show starts at 8PM. Free entry and no booking required.

Are you interested in personal growth, wellbeing, and living more intentionally? Join us for an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)-based workshop facilitated by a trained counsellor. Together, we'll explore how to identify your core values, use them to guide everyday decisions, and build a clearer picture of the person you'd like to become. This workshop is designed to be practical, reflective, and welcoming to people at all stages of their journey. Whether you're feeling a little stuck, looking for greater direction, or simply curious about ACT, we'd love to have you join us. Tickets are $20 and available via Eventbrite: [https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/workshop-becoming-your-preferred-self-tickets-1989631752130](https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/workshop-becoming-your-preferred-self-tickets-1989631752130) LGBT+ Social Hub Melbourne is a queer community organisation focused on creating meaningful opportunities for connection, wellbeing, friendship, and personal growth. We welcome queer attendees and allies aged 18+, and maintain a zero-tolerance policy towards harassment and discrimination. We don't want financial circumstances to be the reason somebody misses out. If cost would prevent you from attending, please get in touch with us privately.

Let’s kick things off with Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross! For our first meeting, we’ll be trying out The Square as a gathering spot. I’ll plan to get there a little early to grab a table. Synopsis: *Dear Matilda,* **I wrote.** I let the words flow for her. And when the ink dried, I gave my very heart **to the fire.** Born in the firelit domain of the under realm, Matilda is the youngest goddess of her clan, blessed with humble messenger magic she uses to carry words and letters through the realms. But the gods will kill for power, and Matilda holds a secret she must hide from even her dearest allies. And there is a mortal who dreams of her, though they have never met in the waking world. Ten years ago, Vincent of Beckett wrote to Matilda on the darkest night of his life—begging the goddess he befriended in dreams to help him. His request went unanswered, and Vincent became a hardened, irreverent lord of the river who has long forgotten Matilda . . . until she comes tumbling into his bedroom window with a letter for him. Matilda and Vincent were fated to find each other beyond dreams. But to rewrite the blood-soaked ways of the gods, Matilda will have to face something she fears even more than losing her magic: finally allowing herself to be loved.

…Transform Our Lives, Work, and World (2024) by Jamie Metzl, 432 pages [Genetics] • Paperback • Hardcover • Kindle • Audiobook • Library: [https://fcplcat.fairfaxcounty.gov/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.1&pos=1&cn=615082](https://fcplcat.fairfaxcounty.gov/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.1&pos=1&cn=615082) Check the How To Find Us section for Zoom Link **(Remember, the Zoom Link is different each month, do not bookmark)** ### Review “In Superconvergence, Jamie Metzl takes readers on a magical journey through the science of the intersecting genetics, biotech, and AI revolutions, deeply explores the implications, and challenges us to think creatively and proactively about what comes next. Very few books are absolute must-reads. This is one.”―Siddhartha Mukherjee, assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University and author of The Gene: An Intimate History "During the 25 years I have known Jamie Metzl, he has always been ahead of the curve. There is no one better to help us understand and prepare for the fast-approaching technological revolutions. Superconvergence is brilliant. I can't recommend it more strongly."―Sanjay Gupta MD, bestseller author, neurosurgeon, and Emmy-award winning chief medical correspondent (CNN) "Our world is defined by our science and technology—whether we like it or not. The question now is not whether to use these powers, but how best to use them. In Superconvergence, Jamie Metzl takes us on a journey through the new capabilities that are radically transforming ecosystems inside us and around us, challenging each of us to get personally involved with building the future we want."―Beth Shapiro, University of California Santa Cruz evolutionary biologist and author of Life as We Made It: How 50,000 Years of Human Innovation Refined―and Redefined―Nature "In a fine counter-blast to the pessimism of today, Jamie Metzl lays out just how spectacular the future of humanity and planet can be if we harness innovation responsibly and imaginatively to create what he calls the 'spiral of progress.'"―Matt Ridley, author of How Innovation Works, and co-author of Viral: The search for the Origin of Covid-19 “A page-turning journey through space and time that shows us how our lives will be changed by imminent technological advances we once only dreamed of.”―David Sinclair, Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, and author of Lifespan: Why We Age―and Why We Don't Have To “The superconvergence of the genetics, biotechnology, and AI revolutions provides spectacular opportunities for building a better world. It also represents an almost limitless investment opportunity. We were excited to collaborate with Jamie Metzl, one of the world's great experts on how these aspirations can best be realized, including in capital markets. Superconvergence is a master class for imagining, investing in, and building a future we'd like to inhabit."―Jeremy Schwartz, Global Chief Investment Officer, WisdomTree “A clear examination of a transitional moment in the story of life on Earth…. Metzl capably describes recent developments in genetics and biotech and looks at how AI is providing an analytical engine of unprecedented power…. An important book in which the author sets out a path for the future based on his experience and expertise.”―Kirkus “Erudite, optimistic, and timely.”―Science Magazine "[In Superconvergence] Mr. Metzl has identified an important truth: that the convergence of new technologies is galvanizing us to reimagine how to meet urgent challenges in medicine and the environment. It’s a compelling opportunity—provided we manage to sidestep self-induced catastrophes along the way."―The Wall Street Journal ### About the Author Jamie Metzl is a leading technology and healthcare futurist and the founder and chair of OneShared.World. He is the author of Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity and four other books and was a member of the World Health Organization expert advisory committee on human genome editing. Jamie previously served in the U.S. National Security Council, State Department, and Senate Foreign Relations Committee and with the United Nations in Cambodia. His work has been featured by most major media organizations around the world, including 60 Minutes, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Fox, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, the Times of London, Le Monde, and Paris Match, and his podcast interviews with Joe Rogan, Lex Fridman, and others have reached tens of millions of listeners. He lives in New York City. Visit Jamiemetzl.com.

Curl up with a good book and a hot cup of your poison of choice. Maybe start a book club to talk about your favs and read together.

Specifically catering to those in the LGBTQIA+ community (though Allies are welcome), Queer Circle is a place to gather safely where space is held for everyone. Led by Ginny, the circle focuses on empowerment, individuality, and how our practices entwine with it all. Prepare to work with queer/androgynous deities and beings, and our queer/trans-cestors! HATE HAS NO HOME HERE. Please be conscious of shared experiences and how it may impact fellow circle members. 🏳️‍🌈 fee is $25 🏳️‍⚧️