8 October 2022 Birmingham Literature Festival @bhamlitfest Had a great chat with @paulmcveighwriter and #juliaarmfield about writing while queer. Julia read from her brilliant debut novel Our Wives Under the Sea and I read a bit from the restaurant scene in Rainbow Milk. At the book signing afterwards (thanks to @thebookshoponthegreen) a lady came up to me to say she’d read RM when it first came out and particularly enjoyed the music in it. She credits RM with introducing her to Joy Division, and proceeded to present me with a Rainbow Milk-inflected Unknown Pleasures bookmark – she’d made two, one to keep for herself – that made me laugh and cry, and I will cherish forever. It was also great to see @aniabas_uk, author of Odd Hours. Ania and I met in 2012 while attending @season_butler’s creative writing workshop at Hackney City Farm. Along with Season’s own Cygnet, and Tomasz Jedrowski’s Swimming in the Dark, that’s four successful novels published from one humble yet radical writing group. Thank you, Season 💖 #birminghamliteraturefestival #rainbowmilk #unknownpleasures #libraryofbirmingham