Sapphic Reading and Writing is a six-week, practice-led course designed to support the creative and intellectual development of writers and artists identifying with the sapphic experience, such as among those who are lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, transgender femme, masc, and non-binary. Blending online and in-person sessions, the course offers a unique space for mentorship and artistic growth, enriched by engagement with literary and visual materials.

Led by Ange Glindemann—writer, editor, researcher, and board member at Seventh—this summer program will explore key sapphic themes within both art and literature. Participants will critically engage with influential texts by Anne Carson, Audre Lorde, Monique Wittig, Adrienne Rich, Sara Ahmed, and Jack Halberstam, supported by an extensive supplementary reading list for those keen to explore further. Key themes include queer temporality, low theory, queer use, compulsory heterosexuality, the embodied experience in the lesbian body, the political dimensions of poetry and literature, and lesbian invisibility, among others. The course will also examine significant artworks by both historical and contemporary sapphic artists.

An integral component of this course is collaboration with the Women’s Art Register, where participants will create original written responses to archival materials. The curriculum is further enriched by guest lectures from local academics, artists and writers, fostering a dynamic and multi-faceted exploration of sapphic identity.

Ange Glindemann is a queer and neurodivergent writer, poet and editor based in Naarm. She is a PhD candidate at RMIT, where she is studying situated and spatial writing, and she works as an editor for Books+Publishing, as well as being a member of the board for Seventh Gallery, for which she runs the annual Emerging Writers’ Program.

In her creative practice, she is preoccupied with everyday aesthetics, spatial writing, and ekphrasis, as well as fragmentary and digital writing experiments. She has written for publications such as Archer Magazine, Un Extended and Rabbit, and has participated in several arts writing programs, including the 2022 Writing in the Expanded Field program through ACCA and RMIT’s non/fictionLab.

Course Outcomes

Upon concluding the course, participants will collectively produce a publication that captures the thematic and creative explorations undertaken throughout the program. The gallery will serve as an active studio space, enabling participants to engage in process-based creation and reflection. This will culminate in an exhibition comprising ephemera, notes, visual art, and textual fragments — articulating the collective developmental journey of participants within the course.

The publication launch and the exhibition’s closing event are scheduled for 22 January 2025.

Course Details

Sessions will be held on five Saturdays across December and January, both online via Zoom and in person at Seventh Gallery.

How to Apply

Places are  limited. To join us in exploring and creating sapphic-centred art and literature, please complete the EOI form. Deadline is midnight, Sunday Dec 1.

Please email Lucie (lucie@seventhgallery.org) if you have any questions, or if you would like to express your interest in a different format.

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