Kristen Sinclair

Belfast’s queer history is all around us – and the LGBTQIA+ Heritage Project NI is aiming to uncover more. As part of their work, the project organises volunteer-led walking tours which usually start from Writers’ Square and snake all around town, from Botanic to Cathedral Quarter. The heritage trails retrace the steps of old Pride marches, reveal spots which used to house covert gay bars during the Troubles and highlight the vital work of activists. “If we included everything in one tour, it would take us about four hours!” laughs Mary Ellen Campbell, the project’s coordinator. “People tend to imagine that our history is just bars, whereas we see our heritage as being in every sphere of life – politics, art, religion, business… as well as [in] bars and [as] entertainers,” she explains. “LGBTQIA+ people are and have been everywhere. Now it’s about acknowledging and celebrating that fact.” Mary Ellen was involved in the original project which finished in October last year and has come o...

Under the blue domed ceilings of the former Tesco building at 2 Royal Avenue, Rym Akhonzada is behind the counter at the newly opened Yallaa café. The goods on sale range from local favourites fifteens to Arab specialities like manakeesh. Originally from Tunisia, Rym is a linguist and the founder of Yallaa, a social enterprise with the aim of promoting Arab culture here in the North. ‘Yallaa’ means ‘let’s go’ or ‘let’s do it’ in Arabic. “It is probably the most spoken word in the Arabic language and throughout the Arab world,” she explains. “So that’s why I’ve chosen the name, something that’s easy to pronounce for non-Arabic speakers, but then it has a meaning to it as well.” The positive, energetic connotation of the word is reflective of the work the organisation does. Yallaa started in 2016 in Lisburn to support Syrian refugees with their integration and social needs. To date, hundreds of people benefited from the activities and services offered. With the amount of projects going o...

Zines by Shannon O'Neill from Sister Ghost  The first opportunity I ever had to have my writing   published was in a zine. Imagine Tumblr circa   2013, submissions curated from likeminded blogs   on feminism and stan culture, bound together in a   PDF and fired out to a list of email subscribers to   be printed off and cherished. These free, self-   published mini magazines, with little regard for     editorial standards, censorship or house style,   allowed teenage girls to talk about whatever they   wanted to, how they wanted to. A haphazard   mixture of sketches, newspaper cuttings, defaced   images, fan art and handwritten messages were   splashed across A4 pages to express anger, love,   political views, share experiences and give advice.  Often synonymous with the 90s Riot grrrl   movement and punk scenes, zines (short for ...