28/04/2026
17:30-18:45
Leonard Wolfson Auditorium, Wolfson College
Global Majority and Underrepresented Writers’ Programme Lecture
May 2026 sees the paperback publication of Peter Parker's landmark anthology, Some Men in London (2024). Described by Matthew Parris as 'a work of genius', the two volumes draw on letters, diaries, journalism, fiction, and police records to explore what life was like for queer men in London from 1945 to 1967, from well-known figures to those who lived in quiet or occasionally rowdy anonymity.
Some Men in London is the latest work in a life-writing career spanning thirty years. Parker will open this event by reflecting on this trajectory—from his contributions to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography to works such as The Last Veteran (2005) and Housman Country (2016). He asks: what do anthologies make possible for life-writers that biography, works of history, and encyclopaedic entry cannot (and vice versa)?
In conversation with Dr Eleri Anona Watson, Parker will turn to the queer lives that have been at the forefront of his works Ackerley: A Life of J. R. Ackerley (1989), Isherwood (2004), and Some Men in London (2024). Together, they will consider the joys and challenges of writing queer lives:
What constitutes queer life-writing?
What are the particular challenges and possibilities of writing lives across uneven and often resistant archives?
How might life-writers straddle the horrors of queer oppression with the defiant humour that has long constituted queer life?
What is the significance of documenting sex, sexual subcultures, and the taboo in queer life-writing, and what are its ethical stakes?
Spanning biography, anthology, history, and archival research, this conversation will appeal to anyone interested in how queer lives are documented, preserved, and narrated. It will also be of interest to students and scholars of life-writing, queer history, and queer theory. No prior specialist knowledge or preparation is required.
Speaker Details:
Peter Parker is the author of two books about the First World War, The Old Lie and The Last Veteran; biographies of J.R. Ackerley and Christopher Isherwood; Housman Country, a cultural history of A Shropshire Lad; and A Little Book of Latin for Gardeners. His two-volume anthology Some Men in London: Queer Life, 1945–1967 was the Times and Sunday Times History Book of the Year in 2024. He edited (and wrote much of) A Reader’s Guide to the Twentieth-Century Novel and A Reader’s Guide to Twentieth-Century Writers, and is an advisory editor of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. He was a contributor to Fifty Gay and Lesbian Books Everybody Must Read (2009), Britten’s Century (2013) and Brigid Brophy: Avant-Garde Writer, Critic, Activist (2020), and collaborated on an animated film of Ackerley’s My Dog Tulip (2010). He has written about people, books, art, architecture and gardening for a wide variety of newspapers and magazines.
Dr Eleri Anona Watson is the inaugural Fellow in Queer Studies at the University of Oxford. They are a postdoctoral researcher in English Literature and Critical Theory and Events Manager at the Oxford Centre for Life-Writing. They were previously the Christopher Isherwood Fellow at the Huntington Library, and have held Visiting Fellowships at the University of Southern California and Macquarie University. Their work sits at the intersection of deconstructive thought and queer, trans, and Black literature and theory. Their current research examines the growing hostility towards deconstruction in France, the UK, and the US, both as a product of nationalist, anti-gender politics and as a point of rupture within the very intellectual traditions it has shaped. Their writing has appeared in publications including The Edinburgh Companion to Queer Reading and Modern & Contemporary France. They are currently co-editing Angles on Cixous (2027), which examines the reception and legacy of Hélène Cixous’ work in the Anglo-American world.
About OCLW’s Global Majority & Underrepresented Writers’ Programme:
This event is part of OCLW’s flagship Global Majority and Underrepresented Writers’ Programme (GMUWP). The GMUWP supports talented yet historically excluded writers in developing their work, building confidence, and navigating the publishing industry by providing free lectures, workshops, and mentorship. The Programme aims to create a more inclusive writing community, ensuring that life-writing reflects the diverse range of voices that surround us.
Find out more about the Programme here.
Further Details and Contacts:
Join us after the event for a wine reception and book sale by Caper.
This event is free and open to all.
Delivering our lectures costs the Centre around £20 per attendee. If you are able, please consider making a voluntary donation of £5, £10, or £20 to help us cover these costs and keep our events accessible to all. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
Registration is required. Registration will close at 14:30 on 28/04/2026.
The event will be recorded and made available on the OCLW website soon after. Registration is not required to access the recording.
Queries regarding this event should be addressed to OCLW Events Manager, Dr Eleri Anona Watson.
28/04/2026
17:30-18:45
Leonard Wolfson Auditorium, Wolfson College
Global Majority and Underrepresented Writers’ Programme Lecture
May 2026 sees the paperback publication of Peter Parker's landmark anthology, Some Men in London (2024). Described by Matthew Parris as 'a work of genius', the two volumes draw on letters, diaries, journalism, fiction, and police records to explore what life was like for queer men in London from 1945 to 1967, from well-known figures to those who lived in quiet or occasionally rowdy anonymity.
Some Men in London is the latest work in a life-writing career spanning thirty years. Parker will open this event by reflecting on this trajectory—from his contributions to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography to works such as The Last Veteran (2005) and Housman Country (2016). He asks: what do anthologies make possible for life-writers that biography, works of history, and encyclopaedic entry cannot (and vice versa)?
In conversation with Dr Eleri Anona Watson, Parker will turn to the queer lives that have been at the forefront of his works Ackerley: A Life of J. R. Ackerley (1989), Isherwood (2004), and Some Men in London (2024). Together, they will consider the joys and challenges of writing queer lives:
What constitutes queer life-writing?
What are the particular challenges and possibilities of writing lives across uneven and often resistant archives?
How might life-writers straddle the horrors of queer oppression with the defiant humour that has long constituted queer life?
What is the significance of documenting sex, sexual subcultures, and the taboo in queer life-writing, and what are its ethical stakes?
Spanning biography, anthology, history, and archival research, this conversation will appeal to anyone interested in how queer lives are documented, preserved, and narrated. It will also be of interest to students and scholars of life-writing, queer history, and queer theory. No prior specialist knowledge or preparation is required.
Speaker Details:
Peter Parker is the author of two books about the First World War, The Old Lie and The Last Veteran; biographies of J.R. Ackerley and Christopher Isherwood; Housman Country, a cultural history of A Shropshire Lad; and A Little Book of Latin for Gardeners. His two-volume anthology Some Men in London: Queer Life, 1945–1967 was the Times and Sunday Times History Book of the Year in 2024. He edited (and wrote much of) A Reader’s Guide to the Twentieth-Century Novel and A Reader’s Guide to Twentieth-Century Writers, and is an advisory editor of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. He was a contributor to Fifty Gay and Lesbian Books Everybody Must Read (2009), Britten’s Century (2013) and Brigid Brophy: Avant-Garde Writer, Critic, Activist (2020), and collaborated on an animated film of Ackerley’s My Dog Tulip (2010). He has written about people, books, art, architecture and gardening for a wide variety of newspapers and magazines.
Dr Eleri Anona Watson is the inaugural Fellow in Queer Studies at the University of Oxford. They are a postdoctoral researcher in English Literature and Critical Theory and Events Manager at the Oxford Centre for Life-Writing. They were previously the Christopher Isherwood Fellow at the Huntington Library, and have held Visiting Fellowships at the University of Southern California and Macquarie University. Their work sits at the intersection of deconstructive thought and queer, trans, and Black literature and theory. Their current research examines the growing hostility towards deconstruction in France, the UK, and the US, both as a product of nationalist, anti-gender politics and as a point of rupture within the very intellectual traditions it has shaped. Their writing has appeared in publications including The Edinburgh Companion to Queer Reading and Modern & Contemporary France. They are currently co-editing Angles on Cixous (2027), which examines the reception and legacy of Hélène Cixous’ work in the Anglo-American world.
About OCLW’s Global Majority & Underrepresented Writers’ Programme:
This event is part of OCLW’s flagship Global Majority and Underrepresented Writers’ Programme (GMUWP). The GMUWP supports talented yet historically excluded writers in developing their work, building confidence, and navigating the publishing industry by providing free lectures, workshops, and mentorship. The Programme aims to create a more inclusive writing community, ensuring that life-writing reflects the diverse range of voices that surround us.
Find out more about the Programme here.
Further Details and Contacts:
Join us after the event for a wine reception and book sale by Caper.
This event is free and open to all.
Delivering our lectures costs the Centre around £20 per attendee. If you are able, please consider making a voluntary donation of £5, £10, or £20 to help us cover these costs and keep our events accessible to all. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
Registration is required. Registration will close at 14:30 on 28/04/2026.
The event will be recorded and made available on the OCLW website soon after. Registration is not required to access the recording.
Queries regarding this event should be addressed to OCLW Events Manager, Dr Eleri Anona Watson.
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