Have you recently joined the Labour party? Are you searching for the perfect cycling shorts? Did you just accidentally stub out your cigarette on a priceless artwork? It’s probably time to launch a new magazine.

This week, Franki catches up with founder of DIVA magazine, and self-confessed “delinquent mother” Frances Williams. From sipping tea with Derek Jarman to getting drunk in the pages of Time Out, Frances shares her memories of the optimism and anarchy that ran through mid-90s queer culture. And how ”swirling in the world of lesbianism in London” led to her founding the world’s biggest lesbian magazine on a shoestring budget.

Find out more about Queer Circle, their work, and the events they run here.

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LINKS

Watch: Framed Youth: Revenge of the Teenage Perverts, Channel 4, 1984

Read: Shado magazine

Read: Shocking Pink

Read: Queer Creative Health, by Meg-John Barker for Queer Circle

CHAPTERS

01:21 - Intro to 1994

05:43 - Embracing 90s optimism and the “lesbian moment”

18:58 - “Keep it going, have fun” : The launch of DIVA magazine

38:05 - Delinquent mothers and sensible children: How queer culture has changed

44:21 - “We find ways” : DIY publishing is thriving despite the loss of print

Mag Hags is created and hosted by Franki Cookney and Lucy Douglas.