Screw Loose is the remarkable autobiography of Peter Blazey (1939-1997), one of Australia's most colourful and outspoken public figures. First published by Picador in the year of his death and now reissued in a second edition by Gazebo Books with a new foreword by former High Court Justice Michael Kirby, this is a memoir of extraordinary candour and wit.
Blazey traces his life from a post-war Melbourne childhood and his formative years at Scotch College, through his career as a journalist at The Australian, his role as press secretary in the Whitlam Government, and his emergence as a prominent figure in Australia's Gay Liberation movement. He stood as the Gay Liberation candidate in a 1978 NSW by-election and wrote extensively for publications including the National Times, the Weekend Australian, and the gay magazine OutRage.
Written with savage humour and unflinching honesty, Screw Loose captures the social and political transformations of Australia across five decades - from the repression of the 1950s to the AIDS crisis of the 1990s. It is at once a personal confession, a political document, and a love letter to a world in upheaval. An essential work of Australian LGBTQ+ history and literary memoir.