FAB is a celebration of the first thirteen years of the Mother City Queer Projects (MCQP), an unbroken chain of spectacular costume parties held in Cape Town each December and attended by thousands of gay loving party animals from all over the world.

MCQP was born in 1994, partly to stir up the arts scene in Cape Town and partly to celebrate the freedom that the new Constitution, written in that city, guaranteed the hitherto oppressed queer community.

Queer was, and is, a concept beyond the confines of gender and sexuality.

As André Vorster, founder of MCQP, wrote at the time: ‘Queerness is not a cut-and-dried definition of one’s sexual orientation. People (hetero- and homo- sexual alike) are waking up to the fact that their sexual identity will always defy neat labelling. Queerness is an attitude.’

MCQP rapidly established itself in Cape Town’s social calendar. Year after year, as its fame spread, more and more people have been flocking to the gay loving party from distant parts of the world, dressed up for the year’s theme.

FAB, a lavish hardcover coffee-table book, is a pictorial explosion in full colour, with numerous panoramic double-page spreads on which the first thirteen years of MCQP burst to life.

The images range from outrageous to touching, from wild to funny. There are screams, gasps, sighs and whispers.

Short essays and poems by some twenty commissioned writers confirm the impression that, for all its intensification, this is a slice of life that cuts through the political as much as the personal.

FAB was compiled by Karen Jeynes and Eric Miller and designed by Marius Roux.

Karen is a writer, director, producer and stage manager whose many plays for the stage include the multi award-winning Everybody Else (is Fucking Perfect).

She has also adapted, written or co-written several works for radio as well as two teenage novels. She teaches scriptwriting and conducts writing workshops around Cape Town.

Eric is one of the most widely published photojournalists in South Africa. In the 1980s he documented the struggle against apartheid.

Since the 1990s he has covered the broad sweeps of the transformation process in South Africa and has travelled extensively across Africa on assignments for major European publications and international NGOs.

Marius, a freelance graphic designer (mr design), has been working in the publishing and design industry for almost as long as MCQP has been in existence. He was a designer for MCQP for two years.

FAB has been available in (Cape Town) bookshops since 20 October 2007.

Molo says: “Read the latest news about the Theme of MCQP 2007 . For more information & updates on the 2007 MCQP party subscribe to our free monthly Editor’s Picks Newsletter. Our Gorgeously Gay Cape Town section is soon to tickle your fancy as well.”