Published on Wednesday, 2 April 2025 at 9:00:00 AM

Join us at Vincent Library in the lead up to the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT), to stand against discrimination and celebrate LGBTQIA+ inclusion and diversity.

A Discussion on Queerness, Identity and Poetry with Kaya Ortiz Thursday, 15 May at 7 – 8pm FREE Join award-winning poet Kaya Ortiz in time for IDAHOBIT Day for a discussion on self-exploration, identity and poetry and a reading of their most recent publication, Past & Parallel Lives. Time. Memory. Mirror. Past & Parallel Lives is a rippling reflection on being alien, queer, and other. These poems yearn for home and belonging after migration, religion, and coming out. Kaya Ortiz’s award-winning debut shines with authenticity – this is a courageous departure from a past life, towards a queer future and a poetic return to self.

 About Kaya

Kaya Ortiz is a queer Filipino poet of in/articulate identities and record-keeper of ancient histories. Kaya hails from the southern islands of Mindanao and Lutruwita/Tasmania and is obsessed with the fluidity of borders, memory and time. Their writing has appeared in Portside Review, Westerly, Australian Poetry Journal, Best of Australian Poems 2021 and After Australia (Affirm Press 2020), among others. Their poetry collection Past & Parallel Lives won the 2024 Dorothy Hewett Award, and is being published by UWAP in 2025. Kaya lives and writes on unceded Whadjuk Noongar country, where their name means ‘hello’ in the Noongar language.

Book your free ticket here: https://events.humanitix.com/a-discussion-on-queerness-identity-and-poetry-with-kaya-ortiz

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