FWF is back! And we’re giving up the good girl!
We were delighted this month to announce two FWF events in April – both themed around ‘Giving Up the Good Girl’ in celebration of this, the unofficial year of the nasty woman! Tickets are on sale now.
Monday 3 April, Melbourne, Queen Victoria Women’s Centre
Angela Pippos, Krissy Kneen and Jamila Rizvi, hosted by FWF’s Veronica Sullivan.
Wednesday 19 April, Brisbane, Avid Reader Bookshop
Michelle Law and Rebecca Starford in conversation with Krissy Kneen.
Thanks to our event partners QVWC, Avid Reader and Readings. Stay tuned for more FWF events, workshops and discussions throughout 2017 in locations across Australia, including Lismore, Melbourne and Canberra.
Congratulations
The countdown is on until the winner of the 2017 Stella Prize is announced on Tuesday 18 April! A big congratulations to all the shortlisted authors. The Sydney Morning Herald has the lowdown on the six talented finalists.
Some of our favourites have made it onto the 2017 Australian Book Industry Awards longlist, with the shortlist to be announced on April 9. And while we’re at it, our sights are set over the equator with the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist, featuring this year’s top works of fiction from our sisters in the UK. Check it out for the best picks to top up your Autumn bedside table stack.
Kate Grenville has won the 2017 Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature, recognised for her outstanding contribution to literature in Australia. Her most recent book is The Case Against Fragrance.
Poet Ali Cobby Eckermann has won the 2017 Windham-Campbell Prize for her groundbreaking poetry, which often explores the ongoing ramifications of the Stolen Generations. Read more about Eckermann’s work and her surprise win in Stephanie Convery‘s article for The Guardian.
Final congrats go to the deserving authors on the all-women shortlist for The Readings Children’s Book Prize – so many great reads for young feminists-to-be!
Recommended Reading
My Gender Didn’t Exist When I was Growing Up – For Alison Evans, writing fiction meant they could write characters that helped them understand themself as genderqueer, and they hope their queer YA book Ida will help others too.
The AWFL is Bringing Aussie Rules Back to its Roots – More footy – sorry, some of us are obsessed! A terrific article about how the women’s league has brought community back into the game, from Kylie Maslen in Junkee.
A Tribute to Georgia Blain – Tegan Bennett Daylight has written a moving tribute to her friend, the much-loved author Georgia Blain, and her final work, the Stella Prize shortlisted novel Between a Wolf and a Dog.
All the Bells Rang
– If you were lucky enough to have any of Robin Klein‘s deeply moving and thought-provoking novels as part of your formative reading years, then look no further than Simmone Howell‘s lovely elaboration on Klein’s classic, Came Back to Show You I Could Fly.
Broad Agenda – The University of Canberra’s 50/50 by 2030 Foundation has a new blog. Broad Agenda is focused on tackling gender inequality in all its forms.
How Buffy Slayed – March saw tributes pouring out across the interwebs for the twentieth anniversary of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In Overland, Tara Watson celebrates how much and how well Buffy slayed.
Pick Your Own Misadventure – For the Sydney Review of Books, Catriona Menzies-Pike reviews Julia Leigh’s Avalanche, about her experiences with assisted fertility.
Feminism: More Than Sartorial Statements – For the Victorian Women’s Trust, Sarah Casey, Zora Simic and Juliet Watson look at the spate of celebrities who claim to be feminists devoted to gender equality – with the tshirts to prove it – and consider the implications of a feminism that is essentially a sartorial gesture.
‘Empowerment’ Feminism is Not Working – We need a far more radical approach to gender equality, writes Eva Cox in The Conversation.
Recommended Listening/Viewing
Feminism Out Loud – Check out the newest feminist podcast series, Feminism Out Loud, launching with their first episode, ‘Feminism in Australia Today’.
Sisteria – Episode four of Sisteria is here, feauring an interview with the incredible Jessica Alice – writer, poet and Program Manager of the Melbourne Writers Festival.
Audiobook alert – Exciting news! Favel Parrett’s When the Night Comes is now available as an audiobook. Hello early morning commute.
Work It Out! – Women’s Agenda has launched a new weekly podcast on how we work, aptly named Work It Out! It covers the essential stories effecting women this week.
Upcoming Events
Charm of Finches at Readings St Kilda – Readings are hosting a live gig in their St Kilda store, with glorious duo Charm of Finches. Books and music, plus it’s free! 5 April, Melbourne.
Read Like a Feminist
– Feminartsy‘s Read Like a Feminist Bookclub is back with Difficult Women by Roxane Gay. 8 April, Canberra.
Writerly Love! – A shout out to all the writers centres around the country, offering fabulous support and opportunities for writers. If you’re in Sydney, there are some great courses and classes by lady experts coming up on playwriting, crowdfunding, igniting creativity and freelancing. Head to NSWWC to snap up a place. Throughout April in Victoria, Writers Victoria‘s new series Having a Voice explores the experiences of women writers, and includes classes with Karen Pickering and Kate Mildenhall.
Opportunities
Feminartsy Fiction and Memoir Prize – Open for entries in the categories of memoir or fiction for pieces of up to 1500 words that tell women’s stories. There is no genre restriction, so get writing! Entries close 21 April.
State Library of Victoria Fellowship – SLV is looking for applicants for their fellowship program for 2017–18, ranging over 15 disciplines including their first ever digital fellowship. Applications close 23 April.
National Library of Australia Fellowships – These fellowships support researchers to make intensive use of the library’s rich and varied collections, over a sustained period of three months. Applications close 30 April.
Plus, Overland has relaunched its pitch page, and they want YOUR nonfiction pieces!
New Books We’re Excited About
If all those prize lists just weren’t enough, there are some great new releases for you to stock up on: Kelly Chandler’s The Other Mother is out now, and we’re also looking forward to Jessica Friedmann‘s collection of essays on postnatal depression, Things That Helped; Tracey Spicer‘s much anticipated ‘femoir’ The Good Girl Stripped Bare; and Bernadette Brennan‘s study of the indomitable Helen Garner in A Writing Life.
A Wife’s Heart by Kerrie Davies is an imaginative work of biography, examining Bertha and Henry Lawson’s marriage through a modern lens; in Stop Fixing Women Catherine Fox asks us to fix workplaces instead; and in Smile, Particularly in Bad Weather, Prudence Black explores the development of the pioneering profession of flight attendants.
And for some more fly-on-the-wall reading recommendations: on the Meanjin blog, Stephanie Downes provides highlights from Nadja Spiegelman‘s meta-memoir I’m Supposed to Protect You From All This; while Kate Mildenhall looks at Joan London‘s wonderful Gilgamesh among other recommended reads.
Feminist Writers Festival 