WHY XENOLALIA
xenolalia - n. the supposedly paranormal phenomenon in which a person is able to speak or write a language they could not have acquired by natural means.
I set up Xenolalia as a way to give my knowledge & skills in support of my local queer community: the York LGBT Forum and the Colours of the Rainbow choir in York "The Little Apple" UK. The Forum is a brilliant charity & lifeline, run entirely by volunteers, & is a true labour of love. It saves lives. It is always there and never lets us down. Now, with the setbacks and uncertainties of the COVID pandemic, the Forum & Colours of the Rainbow are under more pressure than ever to deliver their life-saving and -sustaining services to the most vulnerable in the local LGBTQ+ community. Through this project, I am donating what knowledge & skills I have to support them & my community. Please check out, share & consider supporting the Forum through my JustGiving page.
THE BLOG
Xenolalia is a celebration of queer writers who have given and continue to give us the languages we need to break our silences. Every week, I dip into the archive to handpick a little-known poem or prose piece by an inspirational queer writer. I share a bit of each text's history & even play you some of my obscure vinyl recordings of queer writers performing their own work.
I open up my own personal archive of gorgeous, obscure, out-of-print queer literature, and I support new & up-and-coming queer writers by reading their work on the blog, plus buying their books from local, independent LGBTQ bookshops, like Portal Bookshop in York & Category Is Books in Glasgow.
ABOUT ME
My name is Bobby (she/her). I'm a queer migrant and lecturer in queer & feminist literature, art & performance. The words and art of queer & marginalised writers are my life's work, just as they once gave me my life when I was a weird, chronically depressed queer kid growing up in a breathlessly homophobic country. I've grown and thrived thanks to queer literature, art, and this beautiful, borderless community of fellow outcasts.
By day, I teach & research at the Centre for Women's Studies at the University of York, UK. Feel free to check out my academic profile and publications, too. I also have a new book on queer readings of multilingual literature coming out--Joyce, Multilingualism, and the Ethics of Reading--that's exciting!