Book Launch: Meanwhile... Graphic short stories about everyday queer life in Southern and East Africa

The Qintu Collab invites you to the official launch of Meanwhile... hosted by JAG and published by MaThokos Books (an imprint of GALA Queer Archive). Join us for refreshments and a panel discussion with contributors of the project. A selection of stories from the book are displayed as part of The Art of Comics exhibition, which showcases over 50 artists working with comics, graphic novels and Bandes dessinées. 

Time: 3pm

Date: Sunday, 29 September 2019

Venue: Johannesburg Art Gallery

King George street

Joubert Park

2044 Johannesburg

Rsvp: nobantu.nqolobe@wits.ac.za

The Qintu Collab was formed to allow young queer people from a few African countries to come together, share experiences and create context-specific, queer-positive media that documents relatable stories about and for queer African youth. We see this as a necessary step in developing a complex archive of queer African life, whilst also personalising queer experiences and challenging prejudicial stereotypes.

The Collab is made up of eighteen queer youth from Botswana, Kenya and Zimbabwe, two academics, three artists and a journalist. Young people created personal timelines, and made visual maps of their bodies, relationships, and spaces.  Participants in the Qintu Collab worked with two comic artists (both queer South Africans) to develop stories that represent their own lives/ narratives into Africa’s first queer collaborative comic. 

MaThoko’s Books (an imprint of GALA Queer Archive) aims to be a corrective to the limited publishing support for queer writing and publishing in Africa and to act as a springboard for emerging and marginalised voices.  MaThoko's Books/GALA is proud to be publishing this anthology of short comic stories by and about queer youth in Africa.