50+ year anniversary; 50 speakers; 50 events; 1 amazing festival. Rosalie Ham (The Dressmaker) joins an impressive line-up of women writers including Miriam Margolyes, craft doyenne Tonia Todman, beloved children’s writer Hazel Edwards (There’s a Hippopotamus on My Roof Eating Cake), author Pip Williams (The Dictionary of Lost Words) and more in this year’s For the Love of Writing Festival from 14 to 20 February 2021.
Created by the Victorian Society of Women Writers, all events are via zoom, with some also in person, and include workshops on how to get published, panel discussions on diverse topics such as writing about adventure, food, memoir and more, plus a line-up of remarkable headline speakers each day. The grand finale will feature the renowned Difficult Women who are creating a literary production especially for closing night.
“For the past 50 years, the Society of Women Writers Victoria has been providing a safe and encouraging space for women writers,” said author Pip Williams. “By supporting women’s voices it has contributed to cultural change that now sees women’s writing enjoying almost as much airtime as men’s. It is an honour and a pleasure to be part of the Society’s 50th anniversary festival – For The Love of Writing.”
For the Love of Writing Festival will be officially launched by Lord Mayor of Melbourne Sally Capp on Sunday 14 February at the Library at the Dock and will feature a headline talk by novelist Rosalie Ham, who is well-known for her book The Dressmaker which became the international hit film starring Kate Winslet.
Those attending the in-person launch will be able to browse the festival book shop as well as read and promote their own work from the festival’s Speakers’ Corner, based on the original and best-known Speakers’ Corner in London’s Hyde Park in London.
The Society of Women Writers was founded in Sydney as a State body in 1925 to welcome women delegates and wives of delegates to the Imperial Press Conference held in Sydney that year. The organisers included the writer, Mary Gilmore, and the journalist, Constance Robertson.
In 1970 Margaret Hazzard and a group of women writers in Melbourne formed the Victorian Branch of the Society of Women Writers. The SWWV Biennial Literary Award was inaugurated in 2001 to celebrate this event.
The 2021 For the Love of Writing Festival runs from 14 to 20 February. For more information and full program, visit: www.swwvic.org.au for details.
Image: Rosalie Ham (supplied)