Want to watch me talking about rugby, writing, and queerness?

Of course you do, there’s something for everyone in there!

I was very honoured to be part of the SameSame Festival last weekend. I was invited to be part of a writers and creatives panel – the theme of the panel was “Objects from Home”, to go with the theme of the whole festival “Stories from Home”. The event listing suggested we would bring a ‘precious queer object’ – so I rocked up with the first rugby jersey I ever owned, which neatly added the idea of a home team to the proceedings.

Then I was so nervous, I totally forgot to thank the SameSame organisers in general, and the suuuper awesome Sam Orchard in particular, so… THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THAT FANTASTIC AND TERRIFYING EXPERIENCE, IT WAS AMAZING!

And they live streamed it! You can watch me talk about rugby, and home, and the all-consuming and often painful love that comes part-and-parcel with being a queer teenager. I start speaking at about 23 minutes in, though you should really watch the whole thing cos it’s great.

You can see it right here at the SameSame Facebook page. Go on, you’re stuck in the house* so you really don’t have anything better to do.

*If you’re unfortunate enough to be in Auckland.