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Norena Shopland
Sian Treberth Photography
HonoursAwarded an honorary doctorate by the Open University October 2023

Norena Shopland is a Welsh historian and writer who specialises in (LGBTQ+) research and history. She has been highlighted as a Welsh LGBTQ+ person of significance, and she gives talks, lectures and workshops on Welsh heritage and LGBT+ history. She has organised, curated and consulted on exhibitions and events within the heritage sector in Wales.

Shopland is one of the founders of the network forum Hanes LHDT+ Cymru / LGBTQ+ Research Group Wales,[1] which unites and supports LGBTQ+ history of Wales enthusiasts and researchers. She is the diversity officer for the Women's History Network.[2]

Biography

[edit]

Born in Cardiff, Shopland initially trained as an archaeologist, and performed various jobs internationally for organisations including The British Museum. She was awarded a grant by English Heritage to pursue an MA in Artefacts at University College London (UCL) and subsequently wrote two books Archaeological Finds: An Identification Guide and An Archaeological Finds Manual.[3]

Shopland describes her interest in LGBTQ+ history as ‘inevitable'.[3] She worked for the Lesbian and Gay Newsmedia Archive ( LAGNA) as well as on the Reassessing What We Collect project for the Museum of London, and an oral history on women with HIV/AIDS at Positively Women in association with the British Library.[4]

When Shopland moved back to her native land of Wales, she focused on Welsh LGBTQ+ history.

Shopland has worked with Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales and many other museums and archives raising awareness on the inclusion of equality and diversity in their collections. She also worked with Cardiff Story Museum on the exhibition Celebrating LGBTQ+ Cardiff.

She frequently travels to give talks, including a presentation at the House of Commons to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Sexual Offences Act (1967) and to make TV and Radio appearances.

Contribution to Welsh LGBT+ history and heritage

[edit]

Shopland's first involvement in this sector was for Welsh Pride, a 2012 initiative funded by the National Heritage Lottery Fund (NLHF) the first of its kind to focus exclusively on LGBTQ+ history in relation to Wales. John Davies, the Welsh historian, gave his first speech on gay history during the event. Shopland asked the National Poet of Wales, Gillian Clarke, if she would write what became the first poem that a National Poet or Poet Laureate of any country in the world had written celebrating the LGBTQ+ people of their country. Clarke took her inspiration from the Ladies of Llangollen to write the poem Sarah at Plas Newydd, July 5th 1788, which appears in her collection Ice.[5]

The project created a timeline of notable Welsh LGBTQ+ history dates, people, allies and events that Shopland resurrected and published as an e-magazine[6] with funding from Rhondda Cynon Taff (RCT) Pride[7] in 2020.

In 2018 with co-author Dr. Daryl Leeworthy, Shopland produced a research guide for Glamorgan Archives entitled Queering Glamorgan.[8] This is available as a free download and provides a guide to searching archives for LGBTQ+ historical material.

Shopland published A Practical Guide to searching LGBTQIA records with Routledge in 2020. This led to an invitation to collaborate with CILIP at their 2021 Festival of Pride and Knowledge event.[9]

Using the methodologies outlined in 'Queering Glamorgan' and 'A Practical Guide...' , Shopland demonstrated how they could be applied to other diverse areas, outlined in her article for the History Matters Journal.[10] This was demonstrated in work with Race Council Cymru[11] on their Windrush Cymru project, that coincided with the 50th anniversary of the arrival of HMS Windrush to the UK. The exhibition launched at St. Fagans, and toured other venues in Wales.[12] In 2021 Shopland was commissioned by the Welsh Government to provide LGBTQ+ language and history training for all local museum, libraries, and archives in Wales.[13]

Shopland also writes on Welsh women's history. Her most recent work led to the opening of the exhibition Tip Girls in September 2021 at the National Coal Museum (Big Pit), highlighting the experience of Women both underground and overground in the coal industry.[14]

Shopland was interviewed for International Women's Day 2023 by Wales Online,[15] where she described the difficulties of researching lesbian history, and the disparity of recognition between men and women. The article concluded with a brief summary of the life of Cranogwen, one of the women featured in her 2017 book, Forbidden Lives.

For Pride Month 2023, the National Library of Wales held the first ever queer tour of the collection, where visitors were taken on a journey through the library's 'Proud Collection' on a tour written and presented by Shopland[16]

In 2024, Shopland published The Welsh County LGBTQ+ Timeline Collection, detailed chronological listings celebrating local LGBTQ+ people, allies and events, the only country in the world to have this kind of local information.

In order to interest people in history, Shopland in association with Amgueddfa Cymru ran a writing workshop entitled Proud Writing, getting people to produce creative responses to stories from the past for a free downloadable eBook. Following this, Shopland was invited onto The Welsh Women's Peace Petition (1923-4) to host a similar writing workshop,[17] resulting in the free eBook, Peace of Writing.

Recognition and Honours

[edit]

Shopland featured on the Wales Pinc List (an annual list compiled by Walesonline of the most influential LGBTQ+ persons in Wales) from 2019-2024.[18][19]

She was highlighted by Walesonline as one of Wales’ most influential gay women during Lesbian Visibility Week in 2021[20]

For International Women's Day 2020, Wales Arts Review writers included Shopland in a list that suggested 100 Welsh women who were sufficiently interesting or inspiring to merit a follow on Twitter.[21] Shopland has contributed articles on Heritage topics for Wales Arts Review, such as Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales Queer Tour which invited visitors to join a tour to view the permanent collection through a Queer lens.[22]

Shopland is included in the Women's Equality Network (WEN) Wales 100+ Welsh Women list which credits brilliant Welsh Women both past and present.[23]

A regular contributor to LGBTQ+ History Month, Shopland wrote a guest blog for Llwydroeth Cymru/Welsh Government in 2018, in which she wrote about her motivation for researching and writing Forbidden Lives, concluding that 'Because history and politics aside, they're rattling good stories – and after all, everyone loves a good story!'[24] Shopland also wrote a guest blog[25] for the Amgueddfa Cymru on the 'Ladies of Llangollen', who had featured in one of the stories from Forbidden Lives. Another story from the book discusses the academic and historian John Boswell and Gerallt Cymro, whose Topographia Hibernica was cited by Boswell in his controversial last book, Same-Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe (1994). Shopland wrote in defence of Boswell for The Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide.[26] Shopland was interviewed for Celtic Life International Magazine in August 2021 for an article entitled 'The Celtic Rainbow'[27] which discussed LGBTQ+ history across the Celtic nations.

Following publication of 'A History of Women in Mens Clothes', Shopland wrote a guest blog for the Parliamentary Archives.[28] On March 12, 2022 a new exhibition entitled 'Trawsnewid' (Transformation) opened at the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea, honouring Welsh LGBTQ+ people and their culture. A new portrait of Shopland was displayed as part of an exhibit of 12 portraits by the artist Aled Wyn Williams. Each portrait showing someone who has an 'active and positive' influence within Wales' LGBT+ community.[29]

Shopland is currently a contributing columnist to NationCymru. Her first piece, published in August 2023 described the history of Women's football in Wales[30]

Shopland was invited to talk at the 'Trusting Queer Archives' event in October 2023, organised by the Nordic Network for Queer History Archives and Activities (Nnaqh)[1]

In October 2023, Shopland was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Open University in recognition of her work on raising awareness of diversity in Welsh history.[31][32][33]

Published works

[edit]
Title Date Published Publisher Notes/Reviews
Forbidden Lives: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Stories from Wales[34] 2017 Seren A historical examination of LGBTQ+ stories from Wales. The book was featured[35] in WalesOnline. Shopland was also interviewed[36] about the book.
The Curious Case of the Eisteddfod Baton[37] 2019 Wordcatcher Publishing A celebration of choral singing and Welsh goldmining.
The Veronal Mystery: Suppressed Evidence, Missing Witnesses – Was it Murder?[38] 2020 Wordcatcher Publishing The death of Eric Trevanion from an overdose of Veronal – or was his 'close companion' Albert Roe implicated?

Reviewed by Tatler;[39] The Times[40] and Wales Online[41]

A Practical Guide to Searching LGBTQIA Historical Record[42] 2020 Routledge
A History of Women in Men's Clothes: from cross-dressing to empowerment[43] 2021 Pen & Sword Examining convention-defying women that dressed as men. Shopland wrote a guest blog[44] on the subject for the Women's History Network.
The Welsh Gold King: a biography of William Pritchard Morgan MP[45] 2022 Pen & Sword The life of the man behind the last gold rush in the UK.Shopland wrote a guest blog[46] for Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales
Women in Welsh Coal Mining: Tip Girls at Work in a Men's World[47] 2023 Pen & Sword The women of Welsh coal mining. The book was featured in Walesonline[48] and NationCymru[49]
Woman's Wales?[50] 2024 Parthian Books Chapter on 'From prohibition to promotion,' an account of LGBTQ+ history since devolution

TV and radio appearances

[edit]

These are some of Shopland's media appearances that are still available on line:

  • BBC Radio Wales – The Story of LGBT Wales (2017)
  • Radio Cardiff – Forbidden Lives (2017)
  • BBC Radio Wales – Sunday Supplement (2018)
  • ITV Wales – LGBTQ+ history: Celebrating 18 years of Section 28 repeal (20211)
  • BBC One – Dark Land: 'The Hunt for Wales' Worst Serial Killer' (2022)

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "lgbtqhanescymru". Twitter. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  2. ^ "Steering Committee Biographies". Women's History Network. 2015-01-02. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
  3. ^ a b "Scholar". Women Also Know History. Retrieved 2022-01-25.
  4. ^ "Women Know Best Report | Positively UK". positivelyuk.org. 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  5. ^ Clarke, Gillian (2012-10-25). Ice. Carcanet Press Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84777-199-5.
  6. ^ "WELSH PRIDE - A Timeline of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender (LGBTQ+) History In Wales". Rhondda Pride. 2021-02-24. Retrieved 2022-04-12.
  7. ^ "RCT Pride | South Wales". Rhondda Pride. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  8. ^ "Research guides". Glamorgan Archives. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  9. ^ "CILIP LGBTQ+ Network".
  10. ^ "Journal". History Matters. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  11. ^ "Race Council Cymru (RCC)". Race Council Cymru. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  12. ^ "Windrush Heritage Project: Our Voices, Our Stories, Our History". Race Council Cymru. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  13. ^ "Museum, Archive, and Library staff in Wales offered LGBTQ+ training". gov.wales. 9 December 2021. Retrieved 2022-01-24.
  14. ^ "Tip Girls Exhibition". National Museum Wales. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  15. ^ Hoggan, Katie (2023-03-08). "The woman who dedicates her life to uncovering Wales' LGBTQ+ history". WalesOnline. Retrieved 2023-03-10.
  16. ^ "Celebrating Pride at the 'Gen – National Library of Wales". www.library.wales. Retrieved 2023-10-16.
  17. ^ Luxon, Debbie (20 November 2024). "New book brings women behind peace petition to life". Cambrian News.
  18. ^ Mosalski, Ruth; Ali, Joseph (2021-08-22). "Pinc List 2021: Wales' most influential LGBT+ people". WalesOnline. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
  19. ^ Hill, Jonathon (23 June 2024). "Pinc List 2024: Wales' most influential LGBTQ+ people". Wales Online.
  20. ^ Ali, Joseph (2021-04-29). "Lesbian Visibility Week: Influential gay women from Wales". WalesOnline. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  21. ^ "#IWD2020 | 100 Women Of Wales On Twitter". Wales Arts Review. 2020-03-08. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
  22. ^ "Queer lives celebrated: LGBTQ+ Tours at National Museum Cardiff". National Museum Wales. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  23. ^ "Norena Shopland". www.100welshwomen.wales. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
  24. ^ "As a member of a minority – does your history matter?". senedd.wales. Retrieved 2022-01-24.
  25. ^ "A Story on a Plate: The Ladies of Llangollen". National Museum Wales. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  26. ^ "Belated Vindication for John Boswell". The Gay & Lesbian Review. 2018-05-04. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  27. ^ "The Celtic Rainbow – Celtic Life International". 14 August 2021. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  28. ^ "Let them disguise themselves | Parliamentary Archives: Inside the Act Room". archives.blog.parliament.uk. 31 August 2021. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  29. ^ Ali, Joseph (2022-03-24). "The new exhibition honouring LGBT+ culture past and present in Wales". WalesOnline. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  30. ^ Shopland, Norena (2023-08-28). "The roots of women's football in Wales". Nation.Cymru. Retrieved 2023-09-18.
  31. ^ Evans, Christopher (2023-10-24). "Welsh diversity champion and Nation.Cymru columnist awarded honorary doctorate". Nation.Cymru. Retrieved 2023-11-12.
  32. ^ "Hundreds of students graduate at Open University ceremony in Wales – 50 years after very first degrees awarded". Open University in Wales. 2023-10-19. Retrieved 2023-11-12.
  33. ^ "Llanelli women among hundreds of students graduating at Open University ceremony". InYourArea.co.uk. 2023-10-25. Retrieved 2023-11-12.
  34. ^ "Forbidden Lives | Seren Books". www.serenbooks.com. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
  35. ^ Walford, Jessica (2018-01-14). "These are the LGBT heroes who 'helped shape Welsh history'". WalesOnline. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  36. ^ "Norena Shopland Talks Forbidden Lives". Fyne Times. 2018-02-02. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  37. ^ "The Curious Case of the Eisteddfod Baton released... by Norena Shopland". Wordcatcher Publishing. 2020-01-12. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
  38. ^ "A Shocking Crime Examined in The Veronal Mystery by Norena Shopland". Wordcatcher Publishing. 2020-01-29. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
  39. ^ "Historian sheds new light on the 'murder' of the Queen Mother's cousin". Tatler. 2020-03-17. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  40. ^ Bridge, Mark. "How the 'murder' of a cousin of the Queen Mother went unsolved". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  41. ^ Powell, Amanda (2020-03-29). "Did a Swansea sailor get away with murdering the Queen Mother's cousin". WalesOnline. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  42. ^ "A Practical Guide to Searching LGBTQIA Historical Records". Routledge & CRC Press. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
  43. ^ Shopland, Norena (2021-06-18). A History of Women in Men's Clothes. Pen & Sword History. ISBN 978-1-5267-8767-5.
  44. ^ Jenkins, Lyndsey (2021-09-13). "A History of Women in Men's Clothes by Norena Shopland". Women's History Network. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  45. ^ Shopland, Norena (2022-08-24). The Welsh Gold King. Pen & Sword Books Limited. ISBN 978-1-3990-9060-5.
  46. ^ "Gifts of the Welsh Gold King". National Museum Wales. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  47. ^ Shopland, Norena (2023). Women in Welsh Coal Mining. Pen & Sword. ISBN 9781399075220.
  48. ^ Hoggan, Katie (2023-09-02). "The women of Welsh coal mining who fought to stay in a male-dominated industry". WalesOnline. Retrieved 2023-09-18.
  49. ^ Mansfield, Mark (2023-07-31). "Women in Welsh Coal Mining". Nation.Cymru. Retrieved 2023-09-18.
  50. ^ Schofield, Emma, ed. (25 April 2024). Woman's Wales? The Dissonance and Diversity of Devolution Through the Lives of Women in Wales (1st ed.). Cardigan: Parthian Books. pp. 250 pages. ISBN 978-1914595479.
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