About the Walking Tour & the Nowt So Queer Project

Nowt So Queer: More Than a Walking Tour

Nowt So Queer isn’t just a walking tour—it's an immersive journey into the heart of York’s queer history, told through poetry, performance, and the voices of those whose stories have been overlooked or erased. This project is the culmination of my ongoing research, blending queer theory, historical inquiry, and creative exploration. As a poet and performance maker, I’m not just documenting the queer past of York—I’m walking through it, listening to its whispers, and reimagining it through poetry and narrative.

The tour invites you to explore the streets of York, uncovering the queer connections to iconic figures like Percy Shelley, the Brontë sisters, Oscar Wilde, and W.H. Auden. But this isn’t just about dry historical facts—it’s about the emotional, intimate stories of those who lived, loved, and defied societal norms. At each stop, you’ll encounter poems and writing prompts designed to spark reflection, creativity, and interaction with the queer histories that surround us. This isn’t a one-way lecture—it’s an invitation to actively engage with the city’s queer past, to reflect, to create, and to add your voice to the ongoing narrative.

The Nowt So Queer project is my response to York’s rich yet often hidden queer history—a way to turn the city into a living, breathing archive. The walking tour is only the beginning. This is part of a much larger vision, which includes the development of an app, Nowt So Queer As York, designed to bring York’s queer history into the digital age. With the app, users from anywhere can explore the city’s queer past, listen to poems, and contribute their own creative responses.

Through Nowt So Queer, I aim to bring queer history to the forefront, blending art, history, and community. It’s about building a space where queer voices can thrive—where the past is remembered, the present is engaged with, and the future of queer history is created by everyone involved. This project is for anyone who believes in the power of stories, of queer voices, and of reimagining history through art.

‘ear all, see all, say nowt

where there’s folk as queer as nowt else