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Valentine's Day Release For Isle Of Wight LGBTQ+ Book

A new book focusing on the Isle of Wight's LGBTQ+ history is now available for pre-order.

Out on an Island, which will be released in early 2022, documents the Island's LGBTQ+ history from the last 100 years.

Put together by dedicated and passionate volunteers, the book has been funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and brought to life by StoneCrabs Theatre group.

Peter Tatchell, human rights activist, said:

"Out on an Island is a brilliant oral history of LGBT+ communities and culture on the Isle of Wight — the persecutions, campaigns, defiance, solidarity and triumphs." 

The book features real life stories from 17 LGBTQ+ people who shared honest and intimate accounts, these everyday stories are the voices that shout the loudest.

Out On An Island book cover (design by Jon Habens.)

It looks back at historical figures such as Joe Carstairs, Virginia Woolf, Algernon Swinburne and more recently Kenneth Kendall, also focusing on connected Island locations, from Dimbola Lodge in Freshwater to East Dene in Bonchurch.

Project manager, Caroline Diamond, added:

“Russell T Davies chose the Isle of Wight as an old fashioned, isolated destination for his hit Channel 4 programme ‘It’s A Sin’, which looked at the impact of AIDS on the LGBTQ+ community in the late 1980s.

This book features the Island's own HIV campaign with its Captain Condom mascot, and the work of Karl Love, who was an NHS Sexual Health Worker at that time.” 

Out on an Island, which has a publication date of February 14, 2022, will be launched at a special event at Carisbrooke Castle museum, where the project exhibition will be hosted from February to August.

A special limited edition can be pre-ordered online. 

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