This volume is the first to draw together theoretical reflection, empirical research, and critical reflection on practice occurring at the juncture of critical approaches in leisure studies and event studies within diverse explorations of deviance. It includes chapters on games and gaming; performing queerness; events around being kinkster; drugs and sex, LGBTQ+ events and activism, and goth subculture. These are combined with poetry, personal reflection and artwork, much of which has been created by contributors. The compendium draws on inquiry undertaken by contributors from a wide spectrum of academic disciplines, as well as deviant leisure practitioners/event organisers. It seeks to expand the cultural and academic articulation of deviance into other disciplines and to develop new perspectives on deviant leisure and deviant leisure practice. It speaks to students, researchers, and practitioners working or interested in critical leisure and event studies, queer theory, cultural theory, burlesque/circus studies, media studies, and discourse studies.

Ian R Lamond is a critical scholar within the field of event, leisure, and tourism studies at Leeds Beckett University, UK. Their work ranges from inquiries into protest as event within a critical leisure and tourism framework, the mediated representation of political events, and the philosophical foundations of event and leisure studies.

Rosie Garland is a writer and singer with post-punk band The March Violets and she has published three novels, The Palace of Curiosities, Vixen, & The Night Brother, and numerous collections of poetry. She has received writing commissions from Bronte Parsonage Museum and Tate Modern, as well as nominations for the 2018 Pushcart and Forward Prizes.