Queer Folks' Tales
with Turan Ali, Z.K. Abraham, Sam Lake & Ely Percy
Welcome to Queer Folks’ Tales, a new storytelling series where queer storytellers from a diverse range of backgrounds, ages and cultures share stories of LGBTQ+ lives, past and present.
Sometimes hilarious, often moving, occasionally shocking, the mix of stories across the year will be as varied as the range of storytellers we are inviting. Household names will feature alongside new and diverse queer storytellers from the different communities of Scotland and many of the stories told in the Queer Folks’ Tales evenings will be true stories of LGBTQ+ experience in Scotland today.
Our first session features Turan Ali, Z.K. Abraham, Sam Lake & Ely Percy.
Turan Ali has been producing, directing and writing BBC Radio dramas and comedies for over 20 years. He has also been telling stories of queer lives and experiences on stage since 2012, including his Edinburgh Fringe one man show Don't Frighten the Straights (2019) which toured to Vienna, Amsterdam and the King's Head Theatre in London. His new one man show, An International Slut will be coming to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2022.
Z. K. Abraham is a writer and psychiatrist. She is currently querying her first novel, Forward, a speculative psychological tale exploring the boundaries between minds and the discovery of a new reality. In addition to her psychiatric work, Z. K. Abraham has published short fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry. She has developed and run successful mental health & writing workshops, and has been commissioned for storytelling performances and poetry events. She is in the Science Fiction Writers Association and has an MFA in Creative Writing with Distinction from University of Edinburgh.
Sam Lake is a stand-up comedian, writer and presenter. Sam openly shares stories and details from his life as a semi-camp gay man, moving from a small mining village to a big city and becoming a happily married man. He has written for comedy shows on radio and TV and regularly performs at the biggest comedy clubs up and down the country.
Ely Percy is a Scottish writer who grew up in Renfrew. They have published a memoir Cracked: Recovering After Traumatic Brain Injury (JKP, 2002), graduated with distinction from Glasgow University’s MPhil in Creative Writing (2004) and contributed over fifty short stories to literary journals (e.g. New Writing Scotland, Scotsman Orange and Edinburgh Review). Percy’s debut novel Vicky Romeo Plus Joolz was published in March 2019 by Knight Errant Press and their second novel Duck Feet came out in March 2021 (Monstrous Regiment), winning Fiction Book of the Year at Scotland’s National Book Awards 2021.
Queer Folks’ Tales will run bi-monthly across 2022 as part of the Scottish Storytelling Centre’s celebrations for Scotland’s Year of Stories 2022 and is supported by the City of Edinburgh Council’s Diversity & Inclusion Fund.
A booking fee of £1.25 is charged per transaction for online and phone bookings.
If you are a Storytelling Centre Supporter please add a full price ticket to the basket. Your discount will be automatically added at checkout.
This event is being sold at full capacity without social distancing. Audiences are required to wear masks at all times, unless medically exempt.
