The Rose Scott Women Writers' Festival
Women Writing Women: Valuing the Voices of Women 15 - 16 September 2017

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Clockwise from left: The Hon Justice Virginia Bell AC cuts the birthday cake at the festival launch; the Cake; Dr Wendy Michaels, Festival Director; Paula McLean, RSWWF committee member and member of the Stella Prize Board; Floral bouquet; Launch speakers Sulari Gentill  and Emily Maguire.

About the Festival

The Rose Scott Women Writers’ Festival is named after the feminist activist Rose Scott who worked throughout her life to give a voice to women until her death in 1925. Like the many literary and cultural organisations Rose Scott helped to establish throughout her life, the Rose Scott Women Writers’ Festival was also established to forge alliances with women—in particular to value and celebrate their diverse voices and bring them together each September. 
A Thank You to Our Donors, Friends and Sponsors
The Rose Scott Women Writers’ Festival Committee wish to thank our Donors, Friends of the RSWWF and our Sponsors who have joined us for our 2017 Festival. We are deeply grateful to each of these individuals and organisations:  
Festival Bookings Now Open
Secure your place at the festival - online bookings are now available.   Note: Women's Club members may also book via the 360 Membership system.

Featured Speakers

We'll be featuring one of the 2017 Festival speakers every week or two in the lead-up to the Festival on 15-16 September, with a link to audio and print interviews, literary reviews and blogs.
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Dr Karen Lamb - Featured Speaker

Our featured writer this week is Dr Karen Lamb who will take part in a panel discussion Women Writing Real Women, one of many fascinating topics covered in this year's Festival. Karen is author of Thea Astley: Inventing Her Own Weather (UQP 2015) which won this year’s  Prime Minister’s Award for Non-Fiction as well as being shortlisted for five national literary awards. Other publications on Australian authors include an edited collection of short stories (Uneasy Truces) and the first critical book on Peter Carey (Peter Carey The Genesis of Fame). Karen is featured in this insightful and entertaining interview with Debra Adelaide.

AND don’t forget to book for the Festival now! 
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Dr Bernadette Brennan

Stop press! Exciting Change to Our Program

Due to unforeseen circumstances our guest speaker, Professor Kathryn Heyman, has had to pull out of the Festival. While we are sorry about this, we are thrilled and delighted that we have been able to replace her with Dr Bernadette Brennan, author of top-selling book A Writing Life: Helen Garner and Her Work. We are in for a treat as we listen to Bernadette talk about her experience working with Helen Garner and her insights and observations relating to the Festival theme Women Writing Women. Read a fascinating interview published recently in The Weekend Australian.

Book now to secure  your place at the Festival. ​​​​
Madeleine Gleeson
Madeline Gleeson

Madeline Gleeson - Featured Speaker

Our featured speaker this week is Madeline Gleeson, a panelist on our Friday Soiree discussion ‘Women Writing Human Rights’.  Madeline has extensive experience working with forcibly displaced people around the world including Nauru and Papua New Guinea. Her first book 'Offshore: Behind the Wire on Manus and Nauru’ won the 2017 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction. Read the powerful speech by Human Rights lawyer, Julian Burnside AO QC who launched Madeline’s book.

Book now to secure  your place at the Festival. ​​​
Lisa Gordon
Dr Lisa Gorton

Dr Lisa Gorton - Featured Speaker

This time our featured speaker is Dr Lisa Gorton, who writes fiction, poetry and essays. Her novel, The Life of Houses, received 2016 NSW Premier’s People’s Choice Award and (jointly) the Prime Minister’s Prize for Fiction.  Listen to Lisa speaking to Fiona Gruber on ABC Books and Arts about her first novel.
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Book now to secure  your place at the Festival. ​​
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Deborah Cheetham AO

Deborah Cheetham - Featured Speaker

Our first featured speaker is soprano and composer Deborah Cheetham AO, who will give the keynote speech at the Festival Luncheon on 15 September. Read about Australia’s first Indigenous opera, Pecan Summer, performed by Short Black Opera company which Deborah founded in 2009.
 
Book now to secure  your place at the Festival. ​
The Hon Justice Virginia Bell AC
The Hon Justice Virginia Bell AC

Rose Scott Women Writers’ Festival Patron:
​The Hon Justice Virginia Bell AC

Festival Patron, The Hon Justice Virginia Bell AC, was appointed the 48th High Court Judge in 2009, the fourth woman to serve on that bench. Justice Bell has had a distinguished career in the law, as a Judge of the New South Wales Court of Appeal, as counsel assisting the Royal Commission into the New South Wales Police Service, and as a solicitor with the Redfern Legal Centre and, like Rose Scott, she has been a leading figure in the prison reform movement. 

Thank you to our generous supporters

The generous support of our Donors, Friends, and Sponsors has assisted us to position our Festival as one of the not-to-be-missed Writers’ Festivals in Sydney’s cultural calendar. 

Our Sponsors