writing about womyn....

i was lucky enough to 'win' a pass (compliments of work) to a session at the melbourne writer's festival happening at the moment... we were to choose three sessions with the outcome being we would get into one of the choices...

what a treat... i handed in my three preferences and waited to see which one i was going to - hey, i really didn't care which one i was booked in for - there's a wealth of talent out there and all would have at least been interesting!!!

i ended up going along to the "writing women" session on friday where carmel bird and sally muirden spoke about their latest novels...

now i have to admit here to not having read anything from either of these authors so i was looking forward to hearing both of them speak to discover what i'd been missing all of this time...

both are considered 'historical writers' and this session was to hear them discuss "the pull of old europe, and writing about motherhood and mysticism." (sounds like herstory rather than history to me!!!)

they both spoke eloquently about their writing and inspiration for subject matter and gave short readings from their books... both of which i might be inclined to read now out of curiosity!!!


so, not having read the books the only 'offerings' here are reviews from the reading's website...

a woman of seville by sally muirden...

"Seville in the year 1616 is a place of betrayal and torture, with the spying eyes of the Inquisition everywhere. Moorish settlers are banished from Spain and their traumatised children are locked away in monasteries for religious conversion with even the most penitent locals conducting their true lives in secret. Paula Sanchez is a concubine famed for her beauty who does her best to avoid the attentions of her lecherous benefactor Bishop Rizi in order to sit as Mary for the ‘The Penitent Magdalen’. In the evenings she escapes the heat and uncertainty of her earthy existence and conflicting morality with the Ladder Man: a mute, almost-ethereal being who never sets foot upon the ground, preferring instead the rooftops of Seville. Young apprentice painter Diego Velasquez wanders freely about the city and watches over the progress of the painting and Paula’s involvement within it."

child of the twilight by carmel bird...

"′It is strange and fascinating to me to think of people -- Avila in particular -- praying me into existence.′

Sydney Peony Kent is nineteen years old. She was a longed-for IVF baby, ′product of an unknown egg and unknown sperm′ implanted in her mother, Avila. Avila not only used the latest scientific techniques to conceive Sydney, but also prayed to the Bambinello, a small carved and jewelled statue of the infant Jesus housed in the church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli in Rome and said to have miraculous properties.

Avila′s distant relative Father Roland Bruccoli was conceived in a more conventional manner, but his mother too prayed to the Bambinello before his birth -- and that of his twin sister Eleena. It is when the adult Roland is visiting the church of Santa Maria one evening that the Bambinello is stolen. Roland hopes that Father Cosimo, an archivist, poet and riddler said to speak in the ancient green language of the troubadours, can assist in discovering what has happened to the Bambinello. But when matters of belief are involved, nothing is straightforward, as Sydney discovers herself when she too becomes caught up in tracing the Bambinello′s fate.

Deftly weaving together religion, science, pregnancies wanted and unwanted, love, loss and belief, Carmel Bird has created a luminous novel that both questions and celebrates the miraculous."


i enjoyed both authors 'talks' but was more drawn to carmel bird's view on womyn and her sense of humour - especially when she spoke about the 'evolution' of the title of her book and the control the publishers have - originally she wanted to call it "child of the twilight of time" but no - that would be too long... another option was "the green language" but no - people wouldn't understand that (and i have to profess that here was the expectation that you'd either read the book or knew the reference, but as i hadn't and didn't i certainly 'looked it up' to discover the green language is also called the language of the birds or the language of the gods - hrrmph, publishers don't give the reading public credit for being able to research to find answers!)... in the end it was settled on a 'watered-down' version of her original title and became "child of the twilight"...


it was a bit of a disappointment that the session only went for just over an hour, so with introductions and readings there wasn't much time left for 'intimate dialogue' with the authors - and unfortunately the 'facilitator' was a bit 'blehhh' - i can't remember her name (perhaps because she was unmemorable) - what i do remember was that she was a readings representative (surprise, surprise)...


and, on that note, i've got things to do - got the brother coming around and we're going to visit the mother so best i get my shit together...