Out Here

'I was excited by the extraordinary list of names before I even read their wonderful words. Such a variety of ages and ethnicities; poetry, prose, plays, comics - so comprehensive, so inclusive, so cool! When I signed the Homosexual Law Reform Petition more than 35 years ago, I never dreamed that one day I would be able to marry a woman if I chose, or that a publication like this could possibly exist. It's the past and the future. It's a Taonga. These writers have claimed their space. Let's celebrate their voices!' --Carole Beu, MNZM, The Women's Bookshop

'It is not that queer writers haven't been writing, or even that their writing hasn't been published, but, as Jackson Nieuwland wrote in an essay for The Pantograph Punch, it hasn't been identified as queer writing, with the result that many young and queer New Zealanders have looked beyond New Zealand for the writing with which they could identify. This anthology will make a tremendous difference.' -- Anna Jackson, Victoria University of Wellington
'The diversity of our society is being increasingly realised and celebrated, even in our parliament, but the lists of books showcasing queer writing, issued by influential publishers, might be in danger of failing to reflect this. Out Here will go a long way to redressing this lack - it is broadly inclusive, it spans various genres of writing and creative expression, it sets the very new alongside the more established, and it reveals a breadth and diversity within the rainbow literary community that not even the editors were aware of. It is clear there is a desire and a need for an anthology like this, and potentially a very large market for it also.' --Paul Millar, University of Canterbury