Our fifth LGBTQIA+ History Month Top Pick, Mary Renault, has been picked by our Co-Creator Fizzy Meredith.
My queer icon is novelist Mary Renault. She is most famous for her trilogy on Alexander the Great (a queer icon himself!) which beautifully recounts the loving, queer relationships he had throughout his life. She trained and worked as a nurse, writing novels on the side until she earned enough to emigrate to South Africa with her partner, Julie. They found a proud gay community there and escaped the repressive attitudes in Britain at the time.
"They found a proud gay community there and escaped the repressive attitudes in Britain at the time."
Being in South Africa meant she could write openly about gay relationships for the first time. Renault was far from perfect and was uncomfortable being seen as a ‘gay author’ defining herself entirely by her orientation, she may have been able to escape societal homophobia but it is clear she still struggled with a great deal of internalised homophobia. Her books mean a lot to me, I was a huge classics fan as a teen and reading her historical novels was a way of escaping into queer literature without any scrutiny by my peers as to my sexuality and identity. I will be forever thankful to her for that!
Article Written By Fizzy Meredith
(She/Her)