Rewriting Identity

For our upcoming session of Reader’s Bloc, we’ll be reading two texts – Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H, a memoir that follows the journey of a queer, Muslim, South Asian individual navigating their identity, and Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, a novel about a young girl who grew up in a strict pentecostal community.

These texts will start the conversation on queer identity – what it means to come of age in a setting that denies or suppresses queerness, how one might rewrite their identity and how we locate and create spaces of acceptance, resistance, love and joy.

The session begins with a walkthrough of VISIBLE/INVISIBLE: Representation of Women in the MAP Collection.

Reader’s Bloc is an online/IRL group of readers taking part in reading, listening and sharing exercises around texts that help us learn more about ourselves, the identities we share and the communities we live in.

This programme is exclusively for 18–25 year olds.

This session is conducted as part of our engagements for the MAP Youth Collective. The MAP Youth Collective is a community for young people (18-25 year olds) to engage with the arts and culture sector. The collective is for, of and by young people — to explore our shared identities and interests through art.