Prime ministers inevitably attract media scrutiny and public criticism. But Julia Gillard has had it particularly tough … with some of the fiercest opposition coming from within her own party, and…
Western women today enjoy unprecedented freedom and power – but it can sometimes seem to be a game of two steps forward, one step back.Yes, Julia Gillard is our first female prime minister … but her …
The Country Women’s Association is not often thought of as a feminist organisation … if at all. But with the current interest in women’s rights and spaces, it’s arguably a ready-made grassroots…
Throughout history many – if not most – cultures have perpetuated the myth of the evil woman. Television presenter, journalist and popular crime novelist Tara Moss discusses evil women, female…
In this very special event, two generations of Australian reportage royalty come together, as the world- renowned Helen Garner interviews Anna Krien, one of the brightest writers of her generation…
By Shauna Bostock-SmithShauna Bostock-Smith reflects on her family’s past, and the way personal stories are shaped and interpreted – and the importance of acknowledging both the bad and the good in…
In 2012, feminism became the literary world’s latest buzzword. The Stella Prize, Australia’s first prize to reward a woman writer for the best book of the year, was at the centre of the…
The first ever Stella Prize for a work by an Australian woman writer was awarded last night, to Carrie Tiffany for her novel Mateship with Birds. Carrie Tiffany: ‘The Stella is…
by Yvonne Ward When Yvonne Ward began researching Queen Victoria’s Letters, she found that key aspects of her life were deemed unsuitable for public consumption: her experience of motherhood, her…
When Queen Victoria died in 1901, two literary gentlemen took on a monumental task: selecting and editing her vast correspondence. The book they produced would influence perceptions of Victoria for g…
Pregnancy is natural, healthy and fun, right? Sure it is, if you’re lucky. But instead of a natural glow and orgasmic birth, Monica Dux experienced pregnancy as a medium-level catastrophe. In Things…
There’s an uproar on the internet right now about the recent makeover of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar. While the original cover was a concentric ring of mesmerising circles, the fiftieth anniversary e…
Most Melburnians know Lily Brett as a literary bestseller, her novels peopled with wisecracking Holocaust survivors obsessed with food and death. But in the swinging sixties, she was a rock…
The Alan Jones affair. The Brunswick peace march for Jill Meagher. Margie Abbott and the Downton Abbey Defence. Peter Slipper’s texts and Julia Gillard’s speech. All of these events sparked debates o…
Today’s consumer culture persistently uses girls as icons of sexual attractiveness in advertising, film and television. In the nineteenth century, print media did not dare positively associate girls …
By Clementine Ford In this edited version of her Lunchbox/Soapbox address, Clementine Ford asks why men like Alan Jones think women are ‘destroying the joint’, exposes how Hollywood contributes to…
by Mel Campbell Mel Campbell is currently writing her first (non-fiction) book. She responds to Rebecca Giggs' Overland essay on women’s non-fiction writing, subjectivity, bias and writing the…
Feminism’s over, they say. It’s achieved all its goals. Women are equal now, so we should all shut up and go home. But if feminism has really succeeded, why does it still feel like we’ve got so much …
The Fifth Estate is the Wheeler Centre’s new series of fortnightly forums: a more measured approach to news and current affairs. Provocative and studied, authoritative and unhurried, this is real…
Mother, feminist and blogger Andie Fox unpicks the controversy surrounding the appointment of pregnant 37-year-old Marissa Mayer as CEO of ailing internet giant Yahoo – all focused on how she’ll…
What is the future for media in Australia? How can newspapers adapt and survive in the digital age? And what is the role of the national broadcaster in a rapidly changing media landscape? As Gina…
It’s not often that a government public information campaign video goes viral. But the European Commission’s teaser video for their new campaign, Science: It’s a girl thing!‘ has been viewed and…
Clementine Ford speaks back to a recent column by Sydney Morning Herald regular Elizabeth Farrelly, who prefers ‘writing with a higher IQ and lower pH than most women can manage’. Citing Jeanette…
The Australian army needs more women, said Lieutenant General David Morrison, chief of the Australian army, in a Wheeler Centre event last week. He’s committed himself to increasing the quota of…
Asma Barlas moves between worlds; she’s a ‘cultural hybrid’. Born and raised in Pakistan, English was her first language and she received a western education. She now lives in the US, where she has b…
Masha Gessen is the author of a controversial new biography of Putin, The Man Without a Face. She has also written extensively on the lives and roles of women in contemporary Russia. Sheng Keyi’s…
Masha Gessen is the author of a controversial new biography of Putin, The Man Without a Face. She has also written extensively on the lives and roles of women in contemporary Russia. Sheng Keyi’s…
Across the world, the story is the same. Sex scandal. Media frenzy. Another prominent man caught with his pants down. Sex therapist and social commentator Bettina Arndt talks about why men take such …
Kathy Lette
Video · Wed, 09 May 2012
Kathy Lette pioneered smart, funny fiction with a frivolous edge (and a feminist flavour). In 2012’s The Boy Who Fell to Earth, Lette’s character Lucy has more to manage than most: she’s trying to…
The Comedy Festival’s annual consideration of ladies’ matters is back with a discussion about agents and the representation of women in comedy. What do agents do? Why get one? How do you get one? Do …
The longlist for Australia’s most prestigious (and controversial) literary award has been announced – and last year’s short (all-male) shortlist has been followed by a long longlist, dominated…
This year, PEN Melbourne’s annual International Women’s Day event features a conversation with the playwright Tracey Rigney, a Wotjobaluk and Ngarrindjeri woman from Victoria and South Australia…
This year, PEN Melbourne’s annual International Women’s Day event features a conversation with the playwright Tracey Rigney, a Wotjobaluk and Ngarrindjeri woman from Victoria and South Australia…
Who tells the story of a country? What story does a country’s national literature tell about its people and its identity? Is there such a thing as Australian literature at all? In this major new
Christine Gordon, bookseller and Stella Prize committee member, delivered our Lunchbox/Soapbox on International Women’s Day, to a rousing crowd response.She talked about why sharing women’s stories…
Celebrating and acknowledging women’s stories, Christine Gordon – bookseller, booklover, and passionate advocate of women’s writings, muses on why the political is personal, and reasons that the…
The Age reported today that Lego’s controversial new line for girls, Lego Friends, has won Toy of the Year for its City Park Cafe.Lego Friends was launched last December, with curvy doll-like…
On 22 February 2012, Kevin Rudd announced his resignation as foreign minister. The news, along with his challenge of Julia Gillard in an attempt to wrest his old job back, has dominated the media…
So, K. Rudd (as he calls himself) has tried to wrest his old job back and lost, with just 31 votes to Julia Gillard’s 71. He has, apparently, resigned himself to ‘zipping off’ the national stage.It’s…
Since the end of the Cold War, much international attention has been devoted to building democracies to replace authoritarian regimes. East Timor, Afghanistan, Iraq and last year’s Arab Spring are…
Since the end of the Cold War, much international attention has been devoted to building democracies to replace authoritarian regimes. East Timor, Afghanistan, Iraq and last year’s Arab Spring are…
If you’ve been reading the Fairfax press (or surfing social media) recently, you’re probably familiar with the debate about writer and activist Melinda Tankard Reist – and whether she has the right t…
Kaz Cooke
Event · Thu, 10 Nov 2011
There’s barely a house in Melbourne with a small child that doesn’t have a well-thumbed copy of Kaz Cooke’s Up the Duff or Kidwrangling adorning a bookshelf. Now, written in consultation with more…
Ahead of She Kilda 2011 – the Australian Women Crime Writers’ Convention – the Wheeler Centre welcomed some of Australia’s leading crime writers. This criminally good panel discussed why there’s…
The inaugural Meanjin Tournament was a literary stoush like no other. The idea behind the tournaments is to pit classics against each other to determine one true candidate for the Great Australian…
