'I have put my genius into my life but only my talent into my work.' So said poet, dramatist, novelist, wit and aesthete Oscar Wilde of his remarkable life - a life more complex, more troubled, and more triumphant than any of his contemporaries ever knew or suspected. In this talk, Neil McKenna charts the rich and complex emotional and erotic life of Oscar Wilde from his youthful struggles against his homosexuality and his troubled marriage, to his acceptance and celebration of his love for young men.

Most of Wilde's literary output was written in the final decade of his life, including The Picture of Dorian Gray, Lady Windermere's Fan and the Importance of Being Earnest. Following a sensationalist trial in 1895 he was sentenced to two years' hard labour for sodomy.

Neil McKenna
Neil McKenna is an award-winning journalist and author of the acclaimed The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde. He was shortlisted for Writer of the Year at the Stonewall Awards 2013 and Fanny and Stella was shortlisted for the 2013 Green Carnation Prize.

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