An Evening with Tom Symington

A conversation and Q+A with Tom Symington, author of Not So Normal: Memoirs of a Gay Boomer, and Our Past Matters author, Kevin Allen.

About the book

Growing up in post-World War II Alberta in a stable, loving home, Tom Symington didn’t feel that he was “different.” Evading early pressures of romance and sexual exploration, repressing instances of name-calling (“femmy”), and hostility from schoolmates, Tom was almost able to believe in a world that valued the rights and freedoms of all citizens. From Calgary to Sierra Leone to France, this candid, heartbreaking memoir braids the evolution of gay rights in Canada with the life journey of one individual. Following high school, as Tom entered university and became a teacher, he was forced to reconcile his sexual orientation with the prevailing social and legal environment in Alberta, Canada, and the world beyond. As decades passed, “femmy” merged with “gay,” “queer,” and “LGBTQ+ community” in a rallying movement and an enduring struggle towards pride and self-acceptance against the current of societal expectations and discriminatory legislation. Not So Normal is as much a coming-of-age odyssey and a celebration of selfhood as it is a grave reminder that there is still much work to be done in the realm of human rights, and an urgent call to action to recentre love in our increasingly diverse and divisive world.

About the Authors

Tom Symington grew up, attended university, and became a secondary school teacher in Alberta (Wild Rose Country). He went on to travel, volunteer, work, and study in Sierra Leone, Europe, the United States, and Québec, earning a Diplome d'études professionnelles (DEP) en céramique and becoming a translator after completing a Graduate Diploma in Translation at McGill University. Not So Normal is available from Friesen Press (books.friesenpress.com) and all bookstores.

Kevin Allen is a fourth-generation Calgarian who has been documenting and profiling queer people and events for 30+ years. Kevin started the Calgary Gay History Project in 2012 to uncover and preserve stories from Calgary’s 2SLGBTQ+ past (www.calgarygayhistory.ca). The Project has achieved national recognition and led to the award-winning documentary film: Gross Indecency: The Everett Klippert Story; and the best-selling book Our Past Matters: Stories of Gay Calgary. Additionally, Kevin works as a senior election administrator for both Elections Canada and the City of Fernie.