The Queer Gaze is back!
In 2025, The Queer Gaze continues to showcase queer literary voices such as Eli Levén, Hanna Johansson, Felicia Mulinari, Burcu Sahin, Priya Bains, Jude Dibia, and Nioosha Shams.
THE QUEER GAZE has been Kulturhuset Oceanen’s literary series since 2023.
The term “The Male Gaze” was coined by Laura Mulvey to describe the gaze that views women as objects for heterosexual male pleasure. As a response, “The Female Gaze” emerged, seeking to disrupt this dynamic and position women as observers. With the program series The Queer Gaze, Oceanen further develops these terms by highlighting how the queer gaze deconstructs all gender-based power dynamics, allowing authors to act as subjects and tell their own stories.
We kicked off 2025 on Valentine’s Day with a joyful evening curated by Sanna Samuelsson. She encouraged unfiltered writing and invited Aya Kanbar, João Florêncio, and Sara Hallström to read pleasurable texts, and moderated a conversation between Hanna Johansson and Nino Mick about the presence—or absence—of sex in literature.
In May, we return, and the first event of the spring season is curated by Eli Levén!
23/5 – The Queer Gaze curated by: Eli Levén
Me and the World
On May 23, authors Hanna Hallgren and Alvina Chamberland will meet in a conversation with Eli Levén about writing the erotic, the spiritual, and the political. About how identity-shaping disturbances move out into the world, how language carries the self through loneliness, desire, and faith—and becomes its most capricious, faithful love. About carving out space for oneself in language. About queer spirituality and literary love affairs with the vividly living dead. “There is no magic, there is grace, possibly, at times, and craftsmanship, and that we can talk about,” writes Hanna Hallgren in Hallelujaflickorna.Eli Levén is a novelist and writer. His novel “Du är rötterna som sover vid mina fötter och håller jorden på plats” (2010) was adapted into the film “Nånting måste gå sönder” (2014). His latest novel “Hur jag skulle vilja försvinna“ (2020) explores desire, gender identity, and self-erasure.
11/6 – The Queer Gaze curated by: Hanna Johansson
Gay wrongs
For the final evening before summer, we have invited Hanna Johansson to curate. The evening will be long and light as we celebrate Gay Wrongs!
Because lezbehonest, as much as we honor gay rights, in a world increasingly shaped by authoritarianism, we must remember that queer people have always been the grit in the machinery. Therefore, we welcome you to an evening dedicated to gay wrongs—our queer villains, our most shameful taboos, our loudest protests.Hanna Johansson is a critic and the author of two novels, “Antiken” (2020) and “Body Double” (2025), a lesbian thriller.
11/9 – The Queer Gaze curated by: Felicia Mulinari
The Curse
The evenings are still bright and warm. Hope and visions of another future still shimmer.
Felicia Mulinari invites you to an evening in the spirit of curses, promising a ceremony filled with sorrow, anger, and powerlessness. From helplessness and desperation arise thoughts of justice and revenge. Together, through language and imagination, we will give the oppressors what they deserve.Felicia Mulinari is a poet and playwright who debuted with the poetry collection “Det som inte kan utplånas“ (2019). Her latest novel “Ackumulation av ursprung“ was published earlier this year.
17/10 – The Queer Gaze curated by: Burcu Sahin & Priya Bains
TIME
Burcu Sahin is a poet who has written the poetry collections “Broderier” (2018) and “Barnsäng” (2022), about motherhood, labor, and the body’s memories.
Priya Bains is a poet who debuted with the poetry collection “Med restene av mine hender” (2021), about heritage, migration, and the fractures of language.
14/11 – The Queer Gaze curated by: Jude Dibia
Jude Dibia is an author who has written “Walking with Shadows” (2005), “Unbridled” (2007), and “Blackbird” (2011). His work explores gender, class, and queer lives in Nigeria.
5/12 – The Queer Gaze curated by: Nioosha Shams
Coming Out, Rebinding
An evening of queer derailments, primeval bodies, and primal rage. We play with language, desire, and the body in an attempt to break out of narratives that no longer carry us, and to rebind what needs to be cared for and recreated.
What is it that we come out of? A closet, a constrictive narrative, a body? And what do we want to rebind, with new words, different movements, and queer gazes? Through conversation and poetry, we create a space where we can explore and simply be who we are—utterly fabulous queers.
Nioosha Shams is an author and poet who previously wrote “Om det regnar i Ahvaz“ (2020) and “Teshne” (2024). Her new poetry collection “Ur”, about decay, community, and the collapse of the world, will be published in July.
Acknowledgements:
The Queer Gaze 2025 is made possible with the support of the Swedish Arts Council, the Swedish Academy, and the City of Gothenburg.