An afternoon of theatre and literature celebrating lesbian, bisexual and queer women’s histories.

Set in North Wales in 1780 or thereabouts, a story about strong woman Marged ferch Ifan and her Coppermine girl. Includes Welsh cakes and gossip. Told by Jane Hoy.

TALK & Q&A – Norena Shopland Historian (45 mins)

Norena Shopland is an author/historian specialising in the history of sexual orientation and gender identity. Her book Forbidden Lives: LGBT stories from Wales (Seren Books, 2017) is the first completely historical work on Welsh LGBTQ+ history. Queering Glamorgan and A Practical Guide to Searching LGBTQIA Historical Records (Routledge, 2020) have become very popular as toolkits to aid people in doing research. Her latest book is A History of Women in Men’s Clothes: from cross-dressing to empowerment (Pen and Sword Books, 2021).

Norena Shopland discusses her work and tells us about a cluster of very different Welsh women believed to be queer – Katherine Philips known as the Welsh Sappho, Gwen John a Welsh artist and the two loves of Cranogwen, Fanny and Jane. She explores how looking at history in different ways can show us more about historic people than we could have imagine