This is a post I've been sitting on for a while and it's time I finally write it to let you all know how I am, where I'm at and the progress of Prosiect Llyfr Enfys.
So, as I alluded to in previous posts, I had a health scare at the end of May which landed me in the hospital. I've spent June recovering from that and dealing with a few life changes as well (which I will talk about later).
Unfortunately, me and my partner had to deal with an unexpected bill of £200 this month which had to come directly out of my savings and is a huge chunk of it.
I've been doing research in preparation for hopefully doing a Masters at Aberystwyth in September on the topic of LGBTQ+ Welsh terminology before the 20th Century. My undergraduate dissertation was on the topic of 20th-21st Century LGBTQ+ Welsh terminology (which is currently unmarked due to the marking boycott). Hopefully after graduation I can share it with you. But my research into older terminology means needing to travel to different archives and libraries in Wales, which at the minute, I just can't afford. The closest place would be Bangor, but I have no money to spare at the minute and Prosiect Llyfr Enfys is not funded by any scheme or grant- it's currently all funded by myself.
For the first time in my life, I've been considering using a food bank. We're not quite at that stage yet, but it's precarious. It's another unexpected bill away from a critical situation.
Currently, my monthly expenses for anything related to the dictionary totals around £40 (subscriptions to archives, libraries, genealogy research tools) which have been instrumental in my work. For example, I couldn't have written my articles for Hanes LHDT+ Cymru without access to ancestry sites or online newspaper archives. This does not include other expenses such as bus tickets to get to the National Library of Wales when I need to, or costs of purchasing dictionaries in order to source them in my work.
All of this is to say that i need your help:
I have a patreon which I will be posting in next in July- if you enjoy Prosiect Llyfr Enfys and want to help keep it going, please consider subscribing today by clicking the link above or in my bio. The lowest tier is affordable and if you have the cash to spare, will enable me to keep on working on the project. If you want to make a one-time donation, I'm considering enabling tips on tumblr for those who would prefer that.
If enough people are able to subscribe to keep the project going, I can start to make some concrete plans for a trip to Bangor and share my journey with you all and involve you in the trip. If I'm unable to raise enough funds, I will have to make the decision to pause the project until after my Master's. I do not currently have a publisher, which is also a big factor in that decision, if I need to make it.
All your support is greatly appreciated- if you cannot donate, please share this post.
As ever, huge huge diolch yn fawr to everyone who has supported the project so far- with your help, we can get this dictionary published to help benefit the whole Welsh LGBTQ+ community and beyond.
I'm publishing my first poetry chapbook, Poems for Justice!
I've been writing poetry in the English langauge since I was in high school. As of late, I have begun writing my first Welsh langauge poetry as well. This bilingual chapbook is the result!
Available in my online shop for £2.50 (link in bio)
There are four poems in this small chapbook, which is published on white paper (eight pages, two Welsh poems and two English poems)
Every sale helps me to live and create - thank you to anyone who buys my art, poems and academic work!
Dw i'n cyhoeddi fy nghydymaith barddoniaeth gyntaf, Cerddi Cyfiawnder!
Dw i wedi bod yn sgwennu barddoniaeth yn yr iaith Saesneg ers ysgol uwchradd. Yn ddiweddar, dw i wedi bod yn sgwennu fy marddoniaeth gyntaf yn yr iaith Gymraeg hefyd. Y cydymaith dwyieithog hwn yw'r canlyniad!
Ar gael yn fy siop ar-lein am £2.50 (dolen yn fy mhio)
Mae pedair cerdd yn y cydymaith bach hwn, a gyhoeddir ar bapur gwyn (wyth tudalen, dwy gerdd Cymraeg a dwy gerdd Saesneg)
Mae pob gwerthiant yn fy helpu i fyw a chreu - diolch i unrhyw un sy'n prynu fy nghelf, cerddi a gwaith academaidd!
I have 2 new print designs out today, based on my artworks for the Tir Cwiar exhibition! One is based on "Yr Haul" - a piece which celebrates the queerness of the land through the interblending of the mountains of Wales with the chevron on the progress pride flag. And the other is based on sketches I did for "Y Daith" - featuring the earliest reference to intersex people in Welsh as the ring on the intersex flag (the reference comes from the Laws of Hywel Dda and dates to around the 14th Century).
I have also restocked some of my most popular prints, such as the bilingual Gilbert Baker flag print (pictured) and the bilingual LGBT+ terminology print. You can find my prints here.
I am also expanding international shipping! I can now ship to any places covered by Royal Mail - including the US, Canada, EU, New Zealand/Aotearoa, Australia and elsewhere in the world. International shipping prices have gone up so you will be charged a flat rate of £2.70 for shipping if you are located outside of the UK. Existing international orders will also be posted tomorrow (all things going well).
For those of you in the UK - I will be selling badges soon as well. If you've bought from me in-person you will have had a sneak-peek at some of them already, but soon I will have pronoun badges, collage badges and original art badges up for sale on my online shop. Shipping of badges will be UK only due to costs for now.
I'm still completely reliant on proceeds from my online shop in order to pay bills, pay rent and buy food - so I am hugely appreciative of every order. Diolch o galon i chi!
Y llyfr heddiw yw 'Trans Britain' a olygwyd gan Christine Burns, a gyhoeddwyd yn 2018.
Mae'r llyfr hwn yn wych iawn ar gyfer astudio hanes pobl draws ym Mhrydain Fawr c. 1910-2018. Dyma lyfr gyda thraethodau gan lawer o bobl - e.e. Christine Burns, Fox Fisher, Jane Fae, Mark Rees, y Parch Christina Beardsley ayyb. Mae pob un yn hynod ddiddorol i ddarllen! Roedd y llyfr yn ddefnyddiol iawn ar gyfer fy ngwaith israddedig hefyd.
Ydych chi wedi darllen y llyfr hwn?
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Today's book is 'Trans Britain' edited by Christine Burns, published in 2018.
This book is brilliant for studying the history of trans people in Great Britain c. 1910-2018. This is a book with many essay contributions - e.g. Christine Burns, Fox Fisher, Jane Fae, Mark Rees, the Rev Christina Beardsley etc. All are fascinating reads! The book was very useful for my undergraduate work also.
Have you read this book?
I'm publishing my first poetry chapbook, Poems for Justice!
I've been writing poetry in the English langauge since I was in high school. As of late, I have begun writing my first Welsh langauge poetry as well. This bilingual chapbook is the result!
Available in my online shop for £2.50 (link in bio)
There are four poems in this small chapbook, which is published on white paper (eight pages, two Welsh poems and two English poems)
Every sale helps me to live and create - thank you to anyone who buys my art, poems and academic work!
Dw i'n cyhoeddi fy nghydymaith barddoniaeth gyntaf, Cerddi Cyfiawnder!
Dw i wedi bod yn sgwennu barddoniaeth yn yr iaith Saesneg ers ysgol uwchradd. Yn ddiweddar, dw i wedi bod yn sgwennu fy marddoniaeth gyntaf yn yr iaith Gymraeg hefyd. Y cydymaith dwyieithog hwn yw'r canlyniad!
Ar gael yn fy siop ar-lein am £2.50 (dolen yn fy mhio)
Mae pedair cerdd yn y cydymaith bach hwn, a gyhoeddir ar bapur gwyn (wyth tudalen, dwy gerdd Cymraeg a dwy gerdd Saesneg)
Mae pob gwerthiant yn fy helpu i fyw a chreu - diolch i unrhyw un sy'n prynu fy nghelf, cerddi a gwaith academaidd!
i know solid-state electronics are as opposed to vacuum tubes (big motherfuckers that they are) or electromechanical devices (HDDs, relays) but i want so badly to see the forbidden liquid-state electronics. please let me run my signal processing experiments in the Goop.
Y llyfr heddiw yw 'Queer Sex' gan Juno Roche, a gyhoeddwyd yn 2018.
Mae'r llyfr hwn yn gasgliad o gyfweliadau rhwng Roche a phobl drawsryweddol eraill. Testun y cyfweliadau yw 'rhyw cwiar' - y ffyrdd o gael rhyw pan yn drawsryweddol. Mae pob cyfweliad yn y llyfr yn ddiddorol iawn!
Ydych chi wedi darllen y llyfr hwn?
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Today's book is 'Queer Sex' by Juno Roche, published in 2018.
This book is a collection of interviews between Roche and other transgender people. The topic of the interviews is 'queer sex' - the ways of having sex when transgender. Each interview in the book is very interesting!
Have you read this book?
Commissions are currently open.
As I’m Russian, every commission means a lot to me due to price differences. Also I need to pay for my VPN and medications. Please. Someone help me survive in this hellhole.
Payment available via my boosty page - https://boosty.to/liryspectre
If you are in Russia, payment can be done via Sberbank + I have a different price sheet for you.
You never think it's going to happen to you until it does.
Hi, my name is Luke and I'm 24. As of two days ago, I spent the last of my money on rent and I have precisely £27 to my name. I can't afford food at all any more - let alone rent and bills.
I know the world is so full of despair atm. Especially with what's going in in America. But I beg you to give me a chance, midst it all.
Depressingly, I only ever seem to make sales when I'm in a dire situation. Ideally, I need to make sales before then so I don't end up in the dire situation in the first place, but alas. I'm poor and hungry and can't heat my home. I'm wracked with guilt every time I fail to make progress on the project because I'm so damn focused on survival I have little time for what brings me joy in this world. And that's depressing!
I dislike having to make posts like this - but as I said at the start of this post - no-one ever thinks it's going to happen to them. If you can spare some cash, please consider buying a print or my dissertation to help me buy food (see here for my prints and diss). I have plans to introduce badges to my site as well - but sadly due to new postage laws they'll be UK only. However. I can ship prints to Canada, the US, UK and EU (with a view to shipping to Aus and NZ soon, amongst other places, if Royal Mail'll let me).
I hope one day to be able to make a post saying that I got out of poverty and am no longer surviving but thriving. Until then, your support is quite literally putting bread on the table. I want more than anything right now to be able to get back to doing what I love. But I cannot do so presently.
If you're about in Swansea on the 7th of February at 7pm, please consider coming to Elysium Gallery for the opening of Queer Land, an exhibition which my art is in! In spite of these circumstances I find myself in - I refuse to stop creating. Down, yes - but not out.
So please, please if you can, please reblog and purchase a print if you are able. It will help me wo much and I'm infinitely grateful to those who do.
Diolch
i love you
Luke's main (for @llyfrenfys) | The blog formerly known as llyfrau-enfys / lledr-neidr-lleidr | he/him fe/ei
88 posts