Masterclass: A Room of One’s Own

10:00am  –  4:30pm (Please note, doors will open at 9:30am for workshop registration.)

For the second year running, EWF are dedicating a whole day to women in writing. Featuring panels, workshops and performance, this event will invite inspiring ladies of literature to discuss topics such as diversity in publishing, Impostor Syndrome, pitching and grant applications.

Presented in partnership with Broadly, with events by Lip Magazine, Ladies of Leisure, The Stella Prize and Writers Bloc

MAINSTAGE

10:00am  –  Creating Fearlessly

Poet, playwright, fiction writer and musician Courtney Sina Meredith will focus on the importance of nurturing empowering attitudes among young women.

Courtney’s opening keynote will encourage young, female writers to think strategically, and fearlessly, about their creative practice.

With: Courtney Sina Meredith, moderated by Michaela McGuire

10:30am  –  Diversity in Publishing

The lack of diversity in the publishing industry remains a shameful reality. If our stories continue to be told by a select few, how can they ever adequately represent society? Inequity of representation, combined with a tendency for works by marginalised authors to be tokenised as ‘diversity’ writing, is extremely problematic. This panel will seek to engage with and challenge not only the racial and gendered bias that all too often produces superficial engagement with work by female writers of colour, but more broadly the idea of diversity itself.

With: Courtney Sina Meredith, Alison Whittaker, Jessica Hansell and Jessica Yu

11:30am  –  The Bookshelf Diaries 

We know that writers are readers, but what exactly do writers read, and why?

Join us as three of our favourite literary ladies share their stories and invite us into their reading lives, past and present. These artists will reveal the books that have shaped who they are, the authors who have inspired their craft – including the ones who interrupt it – and the ways in which their reading habits influence their work. Part storytelling experience, part conversation, The Bookshelf Diaries seeks to answer the fundamental questions: Is it necessary to read works and genres similar to ones own? Can books and stories change the world? And is it ever OK to admit to enjoying Fifty Shades of Grey?

With: Abigail Ulman, Eliza Henry Jones, Elizabeth Flux and Josephine Mandarano

Curated by Lip Magazine

12:30pm  –  The Radical Act of Writing Women

Are women’s stories for women only? Writing about women can be a radical act against the male-dominated literary canon. These four artists will each present a piece that demonstrates how this is true for them. This will be followed by a short panel discussion hosted by Alicia Sometimes.

With: Emily Bitto, Fiona Wood, Lili Wilkinson, Alice Pung and Alicia Sometimes

Curated by The Stella Prize

1:30pm  –  Lunch

2:30pm  –  Imposter Syndrome: The Internal Glass Ceiling

Every day, around the world, countless intelligent, high-achieving and capable women suffer from the psychological phenomenon known as ‘Imposter Syndrome’. Our culture’s obsessions with demeaning the achievements of women, and female modesty have lead many women to self-deprecate to the point of self-destruction. The menacing reality of Imposter Syndrome is that it facilitates and perpetuates the gender imbalance in leadership roles in the workplace. Join us as Bri Lee and A.H. Cayley discuss their experiences with Imposter Syndrome in the publishing industry. Feel empowered as these inspiring women of media share their strategies for tackling symptoms of Imposter Syndrome in order to smash the glass ceiling.

With: Bri Lee and A.H. Cayley

3:30pm  –  Dear All The Women Who Ever Existed Over The Entire Span Of Human History

Originally written for an Indonesian Women of Letters event, Emilie Zoey Baker performs her heartbreaking, yet empowering, piece ‘Dear All The Women Who Ever Existed Over The Entire Span Of Human History’.

With: Emilie Zoey Baker

4:00pm  –  The Rachel Funari Prize for Fiction 

For the second year in a row, we are honoured to announce the winner of ‘The Rachel Funari Prize for Fiction’. Run by Lip Mag, this prize is dedicated to fostering female talent. This year, entrants were invited to engage with the theme of ‘other’.

Presented by Lip Magazine

WORKSHOPS

10:30am  –  11:30am  Go Get Em, Tiger! 

You’ve got to be in it to win it, as they say, and Bri Lee is here to get you right up in it. With an intelligent kind of reckless abandon, you can learn to be unafraid of pitching, applying, submitting, and cold-calling the whole world. This workshop will help you identify opportunities that suit you and determine how much time and effort should go into the application process. Then Bri will step through some basic how-to’s for grant applications, pitches to editors, and general selling-yourself tips. At the end of this hour of power you’ll be in permanent superwoman pose.

With: Bri Lee

Presented by Writers Bloc

12:30pm  –  1:30pm  Frontwomen of Verse

Young women writers are leading a resurgence in poetry and experimental short prose. Naturally interdisciplinary, their practices entwine visual arts, games, performance and other non-traditional forms. Bring along your writing tools of choice, learn about the women leading this reprisal, and write and share your own work across a variety of platforms.

With: Jessica Alice

2:30pm  –  4:30pm  Dream Zine 

Ever wanted to make a thing? Are you looking for your creative soul mate in all the wrong places? Part exercise in content generation, part networking opportunity, DREAM ZINE encourages collaboration and creativity through the development of a mini publication. In pairs, each participant will produce 1-2 pages of content directed at a hypothetical audience. Pages created during the workshop will be assembled, along with polaroids, social media handles, interests and goals of contributing participants, into a LoL x EWF Dream Zine. This zine will be distributed to all workshoppers to be used as a directory for future collaboration. Expect goodies and new mates!

With: Sally Tabart

Presented by Ladies of Leisure