Out Takes

24 Jun 2025

‘King of Dirt’ with special guest Holden Sheppard + ‘I’m Your Venus’ encore

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‘King of Dirt’ with special guest Holden Sheppard + ‘I’m Your Venus’ encore

As you know, Out Takes is the home of queer cinema and television on JOY 94.9 but for this show, we dived into the world of gay literary fiction to spotlight an Aussie author who is doing great things on the page that has also been making waves on our screens. When we heard Holden Sheppard had a new book out and was available for interviews, we jumped at the chance to speak with him. From the author of ‘Invisible Boys’, now a hit original series on Stan that we reviewed earlier this year and loved, comes a new novel; ‘King of Dirt’, Holden’s first novel for adults. Described as a gritty and heartfelt gay coming-of-age story set in the world of FIFO workers and tradies in Western Australia, the story follows Jack who by all accounts, including his own, is a mess. He works piecemeal construction gigs in remote WA, drinks himself to oblivion and is estranged from his family and friends. He’s consumed by a self-loathing all too common for closeted men who have grown up in a world of hate and shame. But then Jack returns to his regional hometown of Geraldton for a family wedding. He hasn’t been back since he fled at the age of eighteen, and his past soon catches up with him… It was a delight to speak with Holden Sheppard about his latest book and we hope you think so too.

We also celebrated the arrival of ‘I’m Your Venus’ on Netflix with an encore presentation of our fantastic interview from February with the film’s director Kimberly Reed, and two of the producers, Jonovia Chase and Dominique Jackson a.k.a Elektra Abundance Evangelista from Pose.