Awkward love attracts international support

A collective effort by a group of UQ students to write a book of short, awkward love stories is quickly attracting international attention.

The UQ Writers’ Club ‘50 Shades of Awkward’ project has been launched on the American crowd-funding Kickstarter.com website.

Several high profile celebrities have rallied behind the cause, including American adult film star Ron Jeremy.

“Very quirky,” he said. “I thoroughly enjoyed this book.”

Club co-president and third year UQ Arts student Cheyenne Langan said the idea for the book came about during a UQ Writers’ Club writing retreats.

“We set ourselves the task of each writing a really awkward love story, which is a lot harder to do properly than you’d think,” she said.

 “We had so much fun doing it, and the results were so hilarious, that we decided to try and make it a full blown project.”

Crowd-funding involves seeking large or small donations or investments to support specific projects or programmes.

The UQ Club was one of the first in Australia to launch a project via the recently added Australian Kickstarter platform.

“Previously it was almost impossible for Australians to host projects on Kickstarter unless you knew someone in America,” says Miss Langan.

“The website has helped raise more than $755 million for creative projects around the world. When we heard they were opening the site up to Australian residents we jumped at the chance!

“We hope to raise $1000 through pre-sales of our book. All money made by the book will go towards club activities such as writing festivals, editing retreats and guest author appearances.”

Copies of the book can be purchased via Kickstarter until 8 December.

Media: Nick Manning 0435 961 779