BFFs: Anahit Behrooz & Friends, on THE RADICAL POTENTIAL OF FEMALE FRIENDSHIP

To have a life rich in love is often viewed through a specific lens; BFFs shows us that friendship can offer a more expansive and emancipatory understanding of female intimacy, and can be the most important, loving relationships in our lives.

Friendships can be the foundation of our earliest memories and most formative moments. But why are they often seen as secondary to romantic, or familial connection, something to age out of and take a back seat to other relationships?

BFFs is an examination of the power of female friendship, not as something lesser, but as a site of radical intimacy, as told through the cultural touchstones around us.

From coming-of-age tales through physical intimacy and discovering personhood to break ups and parting of ways, Behrooz considers the vast significance of our friendships through the work of Toni Morrison and Elena Ferrante, Booksmart and Grey’s Anatomy, Insecure, The Virgin Suicides and beyond.

And so we invite you to gather up your own BFFs and join a coterie of talented folk to celebrate the unique power, potential and joy of friendship. We'll have readings and performance and discussion on stage as you gather cabaret style in the uniquely atmospheric setting of the Roxy.

*Please note masks are required at all indoor Lighthouse events. In this instance the Roxy Bar will be serving drinks, we ask that when you are not drinking you pop your mask back on. If you would like to be seated in our 'masks at all times' section give us a wee shout and we'll reserve you a seat :D*

Meet our readers:

Anahit Behrooz is a writer, editor and critic based in Edinburgh. She works as Books Editor and Events Editor at The Skinny, and writes for AnOther Magazine, Little White Lies, gal-dem and Girls on Tops among others. @anahitrooz

Xuanlin Tham is a writer and film programmer based in Edinburgh. They programme for Take One Action Film Festival, and have written for places like The Skinny, i-D, Little White Lies, W Magazine, and gal–dem.

Nasim Rebecca Asl is a Glasgow based poet and journalist. Her work has been published widely in magazines and anthologies, including in Poetry Wales, The Dark Horse and Modern Poetry in Translation. Nasim has worked on projects with the likes of The Poetry Translation Centre, The Poetry Business and the Rugby League World Cup. She received a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award for Poetry in 2021 and was shortlisted for the 2022 Edwin Morgan Poetry Award. Her debut pamphlet, Nemidoonam was published by Verve Poetry Press in February 2023. nasimrasl.com @nasimrasl

Eilidh Akilade is a writer based in Glasgow. She is Intersections Editor at The Skinny and her writing can be found in publications such as gal-dem and Dazed. She currently also works within literature programming & development.

Katie Goh is a writer, the First Person Editor at gal-dem and the Non-Fiction Editor at Extra Teeth literary magazine. Katie writes about culture and social issues for publications including i-D, the Guardian, VICE and Huck, and her writing has been shortlisted for the Anne Brown Essay Prize, PPA Scotland’s Young Journalist of the Year Award and the Kavya Prize. Katie’s essay-length book The End: Surviving the World Through Imagined Disasters is out now.