Following the favourable reception of our first rehearsed playreading, we are planning another one as our contribution to LGBT History Month next February.

We are looking for male actors (various ages, ESPECIALLY AGED 20-30).  If you are interested, please get in touch with us, giving some information about yourself.  It should be an interesting and fun project.  You could be part of it!  (If you have contacted us before about acting, please contact us again.)

Email us at prideincanterbury@tiscal.co.uk or write to us Pride in Canterbury, PO Box 129, Whitstable CT5 2GN

Where were you born, Nick?

I was born (or rather ripped from the womb as Edina's mother would say - it was a cesarean) in Ramsgate General.  We were living in Margate at the time.

Were you aware of any gay scene in Thanet and area when you were growing up?

No, truly none at all. But is had to be said that I wasn't really looking.  I suppose I assumed that I was heterosexual and managed to blank out any inconsistencies in my attitude to sex -my lack of girlfriends....my offer to "try it" (refused, laughed at and ridiculed) with a male friend .....I think we're shockingly efficient at not seeing that which makes us uncomfortable.  I am at any rate.

At what age did you leave Thanet and why?

I left Margate at 19 to go to college.  Thanet didn't strike me as a fun place to be at the time - I felt like an alien and despaired of ever meeting people I could relate to, so I hatched my plan to escape and stuck to it.

When did you start writing?

I was wordy even as a child. At ten I was writing poems. But I ended up doing computer science and didn't even try to write a novel until 1994.

How old were you when you came out?

26.

When and why did you move to France?

In 1991. Out of boredom, I guess.  I was living in Cambridge and it was lovely.  A nice group of friends, a great local pub, comfortable job, nice car.  But it did my head in really.  I felt like I had already retired, and I suppose I just felt that I was too young.  So I packed everything up and headed off with a backpack.  Literally.

Do your novels have a message for the LGBT community?

I would like to think I would never be arrogant enough to have a message for the entire LGBT community - if such a thing exists - but my point of view is that there is much that is unacceptable in the way gay men treat each other.  Other than a few lesbian friends, I don't know a lot about the other branches present in LGBT.  So I try to show images where gay men treat each other properly, with humanity and love, and to contrast them with images of those that don't, and maybe show some of the damage we do to each other and ourselves. Maybe I hope that people will be inspired to treat each other better.  It would be a good start.

Is the LGBT scene in France different from that in Britain?

Yes, I think it's very different.  The French may have had a revolution but the Catholic church is still firmly anchored in the French value system, and as in all Catholic societies a lot of French gay men are pretty uncomfortable about their sexuality - far more so than their English counterparts - and the results of that are never good.  Relationships become fragile, suicide rates and self abuse in the form of drugs and unsafe sex more common.  In a lot of ways I think French gay men are twenty years behind their UK counterparts.  France still hasn't had its own version of  "Out on Tuesday", and that was, I think nearly thirty years ago in the UK. ( Ed' s comment -Thirty years on, WE, now, don't have an equivalent of "Out on Tuesday" !)

Do you get involved with the scene?

Less and less as I get older!

Is the Fourth Novel in the "Mark Quartet" in preparation? 

I'm chewing around ideas and have been for a while now. It's a slow process. 

Can you give us a hint what it will be about?

I know what the title will be (but can't tell you), and in a way that sets a theme.  I think it will be basically about the fact that over the course of a lifetime, the best choices aren't always the easiest ones to make.  Mark will be dealing with some difficult choices and maybe choosing to take some of the harder decisions and see where that leads him.

Finally, do you have any major ambitions?

Yes, lots!  I want to build a relationship that will last for the rest of my life.  I've got to that point.  I've understood the deal and I'm going top put all my effort into it.

( We send our thanks to Nick for giving us this interview and our best wishes to him for both his professional and personal future.)

During Pride In  Canterbury's almost six-year long campaign to raise mainstream awareness of LGBT life and culture, we have expressed to Canterbury City Council, the Canterbury Festival team and other organisations, the necessity for the work of LGBT artists to be displayed and championed in Canterbury and the surrounding towns.

We were delighted therefore when an art exhibition entitled "Diversity", was advertised at the Fish Slab Gallery in Whitstable.  Things were looking up!

When we walked through the door of the Fish-Slab Gallery however, we realised that it was all a load of "Cods".  The exhibition was no different from most of the other art exhibitions seen in the area.

When we asked wherein the diversity lay, we were told that the artists exhibiting were diverse, as were the media they used. The gentleman in attendance did not see the need for an exhibition highlighting LGBT talent, nor presumably the talent of ethnic artists. We were told that one of the artists in the exhibition was gay and the impression was that that should satisfy us.  At least a "Spot the Gay Artist Competition" would have been something.

It was obvious that our pointing out that homophobia is still very much a problem and that championing gay talent would help to fight this, was getting us nowhere.

Perhaps the team that put this exhibition together are unaware of the need for a higher LGBT profile in the area and just thought that "Diversity" was a good title, but the Director of the Canterbury Festival knows what we are trying to do and in the absence of anything of special and significant interest to the LGBT community in this year's festival, this misleading title can only be seen as an insulting snub to them.

No doubt, however, it has allowed a few more boxes to be ticked!