Guys I am so upset and raging and this is NOT how I thought today would go.

Today I gave my first ever keynote speech at a conference. It was for the English Teachers Association of WA (ETAWA). The theme was "hearing voices". I was the keynote.

Thread to follow...

First of all I should say it went very well, and the ETAWA team were warm and welcoming and the attendees were fantastic. It was my once-in-a-lifetime shot to pitch INVISIBLE BOYS to high school English teachers all at once and implore them to get it into the classroom/curriculum

I told them how vital it is for invisible gay boys - those who fly under the radar - to know that they are okay and don't need to feel shame. It was a really cool moment and both organisers and attendees were wonderful. So I hope that's clear. ETAWA rock.

After my talk, participants were invited outside to the bookshop to purchase a copy of IB and for me to sign their copy, chat with them, etc.

Except the bookseller hired for the conference - Ziggies Educational Supplies - had not stocked my book.

He had every book by every other presenter proudly displayed. He had STACKS of them. Every minor presenter.

I was the keynote. He didn't have a single copy of my book. He never ordered them in.

When the English teachers lining up for the book asked him, he tried to blame my publisher, Fremantle Press, saying they were supposed to be there selling my book.

They weren't. My publisher had no involvement in this event.

When I then went to speak to him (without him knowing the teachers told me about him throwing my publisher under the bus), he gave me a different excuse, blaming the "girls" who work for him saying they'd been too slow to order my book & it wasn't enough notice to get copies in.

You know, how he got copies in of EVERY OTHER BOOK. Just not the gay book by the author doing the KEYNOTE.

In case you wonder if this was a mistake made in good faith, no, he was not apologetic in any way. He laughed & jokingly offered to sell me another presenter's book instead

I am actually really devastated by this. He ruined probably my only chance for multiple English teachers to purchase my book and get it into classrooms to help kids who need it most. Perhaps some of them will still seek it out later but lots will move on and forget.

And that's not the biggest reason I'm upset. I'm furious because, after speaking at a conference about the importance of hearing diverse voices, it still only takes one homophobic bookseller to silence mine.