Emily Garside is a writer and professional nerd based in Cardiff. She has a PhD in theatrical responses to the AIDS pandemic and is a leading expert on LGBTQIA+ theatre. Her PhD led to two theatrical books, ‘Angels in America at the British National Theatre’ in 2022 (McFarland), ‘Seasons of Love; Why Rent Matters’ (Applause). She has worked with a range of theatres on education and Queer history, including the National Theatre and the Sherman Theatre.

Since leaving academia, she has taught at Bishopsgate Institute and works as a freelance speaker/educator. She has run sessions on LGBTQIA+ history and inclusion across organisations such as Companies House, Taylor and Wessing and Dyfed Powys Police. This year, she worked with the National Portrait Gallery on their Catherine Opie exhibition, providing tours and talks. She was also invited to speak at The Hay Festival on a panel on LGBTQIA+ history and to host an event at Queer Britain Museum with LGBTQIA+ activist icon Lisa Power. And despite technically ‘leaving’ academia, she is currently part of a research project ‘Archive 28’ seeking to capture through oral histories the impact of Section 28 on Wales. As a resident Queer Doctor Who nerd, she also regularly gets invited to interview people about Doctor Who and remind them that Doctor Who has always been Queer.

Moving away from theatre in her writing, in 2021, she published ‘Love that Journey For Me; The Queer Revolution of Schitt’s Creek’ with 404 Ink. A bestseller of their Inklings series, the book is being published in the US and Canada later this year. Following that and following a passion for Queer TV, she wrote ‘Gay Aliens and Queer Folks; How Russell T Davies Changed TV (Calon), celebrating the impact of Welsh writer and Doctor Who show runner Russell T Davies.

Starting as a theatre reviewer and a regular on the South Wales theatre review scene, Emily is now a regular contributor to The Queer Review, as well as her own newsletter, The Nerdy Notebook. She has also written for DIVA, The Stage, BBC Wales, American Theatre, Nation Cymru and Matinee Radio.

She has presented two BBC Radio documentaries on Doctor Who and Queer identities and in 2026 is producing and presenting a BBC Radio Wales documentary on Queer Icons of Wales, drawing on her book on the subject…

In 2026, she published ‘Rainbow Wales Queer Icons Past and Present’ (Calon), a celebration of Queer Welsh folks who have impacted their sector. It was both a celebration of the Queer community of Wales and a personal exploration of identity and the overlaps of Queerness and Welshness.

As a passionate queer nerd, her non-fiction is about capturing the ‘hidden histories’ and queer cultural stories that we might have missed.

When not doing all of that, she writes programme essays for The Cardiff Devils ice hockey team, and is a passionate voice for expanding LGBTQIA+ inclusion in the sport (while also being a distinctly mediocre figure skater who should probably play hockey instead).