This is part two of stories compiled from All The Best LIve!, a live storytelling event we put on with help from the City Of Sydney. The theme for the night was Secrets and Confessions.

First, we hear from Jared Richards, who is sharing a confession about his identity.

Jared is a queer critic based in Sydney, who has written for The Guardian, NME, The Big Issue and more, but he’s best known for his Drag Race recaps for Junkee. He also runs an irregular LGBTIQ+ reading night across Sydney, which doesn’t have a name because he can’t land on one.

Next up, Ruth Melville takes us into the confessions booth at a catholic girls school in the 70s.

Ruth’s fiction and non-fiction writing has been published in Island, Tirra Lirra, Meanjin, the Big Issue and The Australian.

Ruth has a keen interest in oral history, and is currently working with the Life Biography program at Sydney’s Sacred Heart Hospice.

Also Ruth’s story Beneath The Mask aired on All The Best last year – you can listen back on our website.

In our final story, Olivia Costa explores the complicated landscape of altered states. And a content warning, this story contains descriptions of substance use, death and swears.

Olivia is a writer and filmmaker interested in work that is poetic and affecting, often straddling the fine line between absurdism and reality, intimacy and distance.

All The Best credits

Production Manager & Host: Danni Stewart

Editorial Manager: Mell Chun

Episode Mix and Compile: Danni Stewart

Social Media Producer: Emma Pham

Community and Events coordinator Lidiya Josifova

Sound Recordist: Harvey O’Sullivan

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.