Ace Voices at the Roxy: To Be Asexual, Aromantic, Demi or Grey-Ace

Putting asexulatity centre stage at this cabaret-style celebration of Ace Voices with the fabulous Eris Young. Come celebrate the launch of Ace Voices, a love letter to the ace-spectrum community with readings, performance and discussion from Eris & friends.

How do we experience attraction? What does love mean to us? When did you realise you were ace? Ace Voices is the ace community in their own words.

Drawing upon interviews with a wide range of people across the asexual spectrum, Eris Young is here to take you on an empowering, enriching journey through the rich multitudes of asexual life.

With chapters spanning everything from dating, relationships and sex, to mental and emotional health, family, community and joy, the inspirational stories and personal experiences within these pages speak to aces living and loving in unique ways. Find support amongst the diverse narratives of aces sex-repulsed and sex-favourable, alongside voices exploring what it means to be black and ace, to be queer and ace, or ace and multi-partnered - and use it as a springboard for your own ace growth. Do you see a story like your own?

To celebrate the book, and the local ace/aro community, Eris will be a spectacular wee line-up of guests who will share their work with us.

Jo Ross-Barrett (they/them) is an experienced writer, editor and inclusion consultant. They are also an autistic, queer, polyamorous, non-binary relationship anarchist.

Jo has worked as an inclusion consultant and editor on hundreds of books, many by major publishers, but they rarely receive written credit in those texts for their work. This, along with the NDAs they often work under until publication, makes it extremely hard to write a bio about their job!

Their writing has been published in two anthologies by Monstrous Regiment – The Bi-ble (Volume 1) and So Hormonal – as well as in AZE Journal (an online magazine for aromantic-spectrum, asexual-spectrum and agender people), We Are Here (a collection of poetry by LGBTQIA+ disabled and chronically ill people), Coin-Operated Press and Sapphic Writers’ Zine.

Lewis Brown (he/him): Newcastle-based poet, likes to write queer poems, comic poems and spooky poems. Currently writing a lot about aromantic love (which is queer, comic and spooky all at the same time). Like all poets, he craves your validation but would never admit it. Find out more at @shouldhavesentapoet on Instagram.

The event will be chaired by Jessica Gaitan Johannesson