It was such a pleasure to get our nasty woman on this month, with our first events for 2017. At our sold out “Giving up the Good Girl” conversations, Angela Pippos, Jamila Rizvi and Krissy Kneen joined Veronica Sullivan in Melbourne, while Rebecca Starford and Michelle Law chatted with Krissy Kneen in Brisbane.
Big thanks to our partners: Queen Victoria Women’s Centre, Avid Reader Bookshop and Readings.
We are delighted to announce our next event in Lismore on Sunday 4 June: Tracey Spicer: The Good Girl Stripped Bare. Tracey will be in conversation with FWF Co-Chair Cristy Clark about her memoir, presented in partnership with NORPA.
Recommended Reading
The Museum of Modern Love – Congratulations go to Heather Rose on winning the 2017 Stella Prize for her groundbreaking novel! You can read her beautiful acceptance speech from the award night, along with Dr Susan Carland‘s keynote speech.
Believing in Fairies – Julieanne Lamond on Hannah Kent’s The Good People, in the Sydney Review of Books.
Rebecca Solnit‘s new book The Mother of All Questions explores the choice to be childless. Here’s Amy Gray’s take on the topic, for the QVWC.
Miracles – A gripping dose of fiction from Jennifer Mills in Meanjin.
“Today’s feminists are bland, shallow and lazy” – Rachel Cooke talks to Jessa Crispin in The Guardian.
Dealing with Online Criticism – Elizabeth Flux looks at the ways women receive criticism online and offers some suggestions on how to cope.
How Hollywood still hates women – For Overland, Eloise Ross examines the figure of the ageing female movie star – whatever her name was.
Recommended Listening
There’s a lot to tune in to these days, and thankfully the IWDA has done some of the work for us – check out their list of essential feminist podcasts of the moment.
F is for Feminism have collected an astute selection of April’s most sexist moments.
You can listen to the podcast of Charlotte Wood and Katharine Murphy‘s IWD conversation.
We’re also loving Bang On, the new podcast from Triple J favourites Myf Warhurst and Zan Rowe.
While we’re still celebrating all things Stella, Clare Wright’s The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka is now available as an audiobook.
Upcoming Events
May 3–7, Canberra – Noted Festival celebrates all things words and writing, with over 60 events, and a slew of local and international special guests. Our top pick is Hey Rhys, an online story project combining words and visual art, by FWF friend and volunteer Tegan Elizabeth Webb.
May 4, Melbourne – Blinkered vision: SBS journalist Santilla Chingaipe and sociologist Karen Farquharson join host Serpil Senelmis (right) to discuss race and dating in Australia.
May 5, Canberra – Teen festival Girls Write Up explores language, gender and power through writing and sharing stories. It’s coming to Canberra for the first time, featuring Zoya Patel, Winnie Dunn, Rosanna Stevens, Karlie Noon and more.
May 6 & 7, Clunes, Victoria – Always an excellent chance to stock up on books old and new, this year Clunes Booktown features some fabulous women writers, including Hannah Kent, Kate Grenville and Jane Harper.
May 11, Canberra – The National Library of Australia is hosting The Unknown Judith Wright, a discussion of Wright’s key contributions to history and culture.
May 20, Canberra – The 2017 Feminartsy Ideas Fest is bringing together artists from all mediums at talks, workshops and an evening show, to discuss the intersection of feminism and creativity.
June 3, Melbourne – Let’s dance! In recognition of the eightieth birthday of Eve Mahlab AO, the Victorian Women’s Trust is hosting a shindig to celebrate the past and future of feminism.
May 24, Sydney – Check out What’s feminism got to do with it? at the Sydney Writers’ Festival. Emma A Jane speaks with ‘bad feminist’ Roxane Gay about her contributions to contemporary feminism and her latest book, Difficult Women.
May 30, Melbourne – A fantastic free event at Readings, The State of Being Equal sees Robert Jensen, author of The End of Patriarchy, in conversation with Mary Crooks AO, executive director of the Victorian Women’s Trust.
Opportunities
Feminartsy has launched its inaugural writing prize for fiction and memoir. There are cash prizes, book packs and publication opportunities available for winning and commended writers in both categories. Entries due 30 April.
The Aurealis Awards for science fiction, fantasy and horror writing are calling for applications to join their 2017 judging panels. Closes 7 May.
The John Marsden & Hachette Australia Prize is now open to secondary students across Australia, in the categories of fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction. Entries close 30 June.
Asista Mentoring – The YWCA is now recruiting volunteers for their mentorship program Asista, which matches young women with female mentors for support, friendship and fun.
New Books
We’re reading the latest from our friends at Womankind Magazine, with Issue #12 out now; Nikki Gemmell’s beautiful rumination on euthanasia, After; and Janelle McCulloch’s biography of Joan Lindsay, Beyond the Rock, which explores the real-life mystery behind Lindsay’s classic book Picnic at Hanging Rock.
Look out for some fabulous May releases, such as Sara Dowse’s account of the lives of three Russian-Jewish women in As the Lonely Fly; Briohny Doyle’s ruminations on contemporary adulthood in Adult Fantasy, the second book in Marlee Jane Ward‘s Orphancorp series, Psynode, and Anita Heiss‘s story for younger readers about Cathy Freeman and the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Our Race for Reconciliation. There are also two exciting new prize winning novels: Sally Abbott‘s Richell Prize-winning Closing Down and Marija Pericic‘s Vogel winner, The Lost Pages.
Feminist Writers Festival 