Benjamin Law

'No amount of YouTube videos and queer think pieces prepared me for this moment.' 'The mantle of "queer migrant" compelled me to keep going - to go further.' 'I never "came out" to my parents. I felt I owed them no explanation.' 'All I heard from the pulpit were grim hints.' 'I became acutely aware of the parts of myself that were unpalatable to queers who grew up in the city.' 'My queerness was born in a hot dry land that was never ceded.' 'Even now, I sometimes think that I don't know my own desire.' Compiled by celebrated author and journalist Benjamin Law, Growing Up Queer in Australiaassembles voices from across the spectrum of LGBTIQA+ identity. Spanning diverse places, eras, ethnicities and experiences, these are the stories of growing up queer in Australia. 'For better or worse, sooner or later, life conspires to reveal you to yourself, and this is growing up.' Contributions from David Marr, Fiona Wright, Nayuka Gorrie, Steve Dow, Holly Throsby, Sally Rugg, Tony Ayres, Christos Tsiolkas, Rebecca Shaw, Nic Holas and many more.

Growing Up Queer in Australia

Claire G. Coleman

Christos Tsiolkas

Jen Wilde

Michael Earp Michael

Nevo Zisin

Marlee Jane Ward

Alison Evans

Jax Jacki Brown

Michael Earp

Omar Sakr

Erin Gough

Ellen van Neerven

Twelve of Australia's best writers from the LGBTQ+ community are brought together in this ground-breaking collection of YA short stories. What does it mean to be queer? What does it mean to be human? In this powerful #LoveOzYA collection, twelve of Australia's finest writers from the LGBTQ+ community explore the stories of family, friends, lovers and strangers - the connections that form us. This inclusive and intersectional #OwnVoices anthology for teen readers features work from writers of diverse genders, sexualities and identities, including writers who identify as First Nations, people of colour or disabled. With short stories by bestsellers, award winners and newcomers to young adult fiction including Jax Jacki Brown, Claire G Coleman, Michael Earp, Alison Evans, Erin Gough, Benjamin Law, Omar Sakr, Christos Tsiolkas, Ellen van Neerven, Marlee Jane Ward, Jen Wilde and Nevo Zisin.

12 Queer #LoveOzYA Stories

Kindred

My family aren't the outdoors type. Despite being raised on the coast, Mum detested visits to the beach (all the sand it brought into the house), while Dad disapproved of wearing thongs ('It splits the toes'). We never camped. All those things involved in camping - pitching a tent; cooking on open fires; the insects; shitting in the woods; sleeping on rocks; getting murdered and raped in the middle of nowhere - they never appealed to us. 'We were never camping people,' Mum says now. 'Your dad never wanted to camp, and insects eat me alive. See, Asians - we're scared of dying. White people: they like to 'live life to the full', and 'die happy.'' She pauses. 'Asians are the opposite.' We preferred theme parks. Hilarious and moving, The Family Law is a linked series of tales from a born humorist - and a literary star in the making. Benjamin Law invites readers into the world of his endearing yet profoundly eccentric family. He constructs brilliantly turned essays in the style of David Sedaris, assembling a portrait that is both universal and utterly particular. Why won't his Chinese dad wear made-in-China underpants? Why was most of his extended family deported in the 1980s? Will Benjamin's childhood dreams of Home and Away stardom come to nothing? What are his chances of finding love? Read one of these stories and you will inevitably want to read more.

The Family Law

Benjamin Law considers himself pretty lucky to live in Australia- he can hold his boyfriend's hand in public and lobby his politicians to recognise same-sex marriage. But as the child of migrants, he's also curious about how different life might have been had he grown up in Asia. So he sets off to meet his fellow Gaysians. Law takes his investigative duties seriously, going nude where required in Balinese sex resorts, sitting backstage for hours with Thai ladyboy beauty contestants and trying Indian yoga classes designed to cure his homosexuality. The characters he meets - from Tokyo's celebrity drag queens to HIV-positive Burmese sex workers, from Malaysian ex-gay Christian fundamentalists to Chinese gays and lesbians who marry each other to please their parents - all teach him something new about being queer in Asia. At once entertaining and moving, Gaysia traces a fascinating quest by a leading Australian writer. 'Asia is a big place - where to start? I decided to begin where most Australian did- taking it easy on Bali, leisure-filled paradise island of the gods. But first, for reasons you will soon understand, I would have to get naked. Very, very naked.''A terrific read ... gonzo anthropology and great storytelling.' - John Safran 'Benjamin Law is funny and honest and handsome - Gaysiais a delightful, occasionally confronting adventure.' - Josh Thomas

Adventures in the Queer East

Gaysia

Moral Panic 101

Mtc Nextstage Original

Torch the Place

Jenny Phang

Sex and Relationship Advice from Benjamin Law and his mum Jenny Phang

Law School

Trent Dalton

Kate Morton

Simon Cleary

Nick Earls

Matthew Condon

Victoria Carless

Hugh Lunn

A collection of nine short stories commissioned for the exhibition The Storytellers at Museum of Brisbane, 4 April 2020 - 24 April 2022.

Step Into the Stories of Our City

The Storytellers

Now a major SBS television series! Meet the Law family - eccentric, endearing and hard to resist. Your guide: Benjamin, the third of five children and a born humorist. Join him as he tries to answer some puzzling questions: Why won't his Chinese dad wear made-in-China underpants? Why was most of his extended family deported in the 1980s? Will his childhood dreams of Home and Awaystardom come to nothing? What are his chances of finding love? Hilarious and moving, The Family Lawis a linked series of tales from a beloved Australian writer. 'A vivid, gorgeously garish, Technicolour portrait of a family. It's impossible not to let oneself go along for the ride and emerge at the book's end enlightened, touched, thrilling with laughter.' - Marieke Hardy 'Benjamin law manages to be scatagogical, hilarious and heartbreaking all at the same time. Every sentence fizzes like an exploding fireall of energy.' - Alice Pung 'Law is a writer of great wit and warmth who combines apparently artless and effortless comedian's patter with a high level of technical skill.' - Sydney Morning Herald 'An addictive read.' - The Courier Mail 'Very funny...you may find yourself at times almost barking with laughter' - The Monthly 'An engaging read.' - West Weekend Magazine, West Australian 'Wonderful. Everyone should run to their nearest bookshop and buy a copy.' - Defamer 'Simultaneously weird and instantly recognisable, the Laws are an Australian family it's well worth getting to know' - The Enthusiast 'Enjoyable, easy reading... Law is a considerable talent with a long future ahead of him.' - Literary Minded

Family Law The

Are Australian schools safe? And if they’re not, what happens when kids are caught in a bleak collision between ill-equipped teachers and a confected scandal? In 2016, the Safe Schools program became the focus of an ideological firestorm. In Moral Panic 101, Benjamin Law explores how and why this happened. He weaves a subtle, gripping account of schools today, sexuality, teenagers, new ideas of gender fluidity, media scandal and mental health. In this timely essay, Law also looks at the new face of homophobia in Australia, and the long battle for equality and acceptance. Investigating bullying of the vulnerable young, he brings to light hidden worlds, in an essay notable for its humane clarity. “To read every article the Australian has published on Safe Schools is to induce nausea. This isn’t even a comment on the content, just the sheer volume ... And yet, across this entire period, the Australian – self-appointed guardian of the safety of children – spoke to not a single school-aged LGBTIQ youth. Not even one. Later, queer teenagers who followed the Safe Schools saga told me the dynamic felt familiar. At school, it’s known as bullying. In journalism, it’s called a beat-up.” —Benjamin Law, Moral Panic 101 ‘This is a timely and important work’ —Steven Carroll, Sydney Morning Herald

Equality, Acceptance and the Safe Schools Scandal

Quarterly Essay 67 Moral Panic 101

Michelle Law

Oslo Davis

Benjamin Law and Michelle Law, the long-suffering children of an Asian Mother, bring you the hilarious Sh*t Asian Mothers Say, featuring the wisdom of Asian Mothers the world over, from 'Eat every grain of rice, otherwise that's how many pimples your future spouse will have' to 'She's just jealous - and racist'.

Sh*t Asian Mothers Say

Benjamin Law

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