Meet Rowan Ellis, author of Here and Queer

What does LGBTQ+ Pride mean to you?

Pride for me is about looking back at our history, as well as celebrating where we are today, with an eye to the future. So often we are inundated with the hardships and suffering of queerness, but there are genuinely beautiful and joyful things about being part of this community. The space we occupy alongside and outside of the cis and straight means we have the ability to reject, rebuild, and reimagine the narrow assumptions about what things like family, romance, and sex can be - and that is an amazing thing. 

Who in the queer community inspires you right now? 

I am forever inspired by the incredibly talented and pioneering queer writer and showrunner Russell T. Davies, the creator of shows like Queer as Folk, Years and Years, and It's a Sin. The breadth of his work, in terms of theme and tone, means I'm always eagerly awaiting his next project. Reading about how difficult it has been for him to get queer-focused shows on the air, even in recent years, is at once depressing and galvanising - there's still a long way to go but so many people are driving towards change.

What do you hope readers will get from your book?

I wrote this book for any young person who feels like "queer girl" is a label that might resonate with them some or all of the time - so whether they are confident in that identity, or still figuring out if it might fit - it is for them. I hope readers will feel at home reading Here and Queer, knowing myself and my contributors are on the same path as them. There is a world of queer community, history, activism, and art waiting for them - and my book is just a little taste of that. 

Rowan Ellis is a writer, video essayist, and LGBTQI+ advocate who creates content around queer history, pop culture, and activism. Her YouTube channel has over 170,000 subscribers and her videos have a collective total of nearly 8 million views. Her work has been covered in publications including Forbes, The Guardian, Teen Vogue, Elle UK, and BBC, and she is the co-founder and co-organiser of Ruckus Retreat, a residential retreat for creatives. She lives in London with her two cats–Persephone and Ichabod–and an oven perpetually full of baked goods.

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