We talk with women about writing and reading, and particularly about process: the thinking, planning, plotting (or not), research, drafting and editing that writers do. We talk about things that affect women as writers, illustrators, readers, publishers, editors, critics, academics, booksellers and literary programmers. There isn’t enough of it. We all know (and it’s proven beyond doubt by the VID
A and Stella book review and award data) that women don’t have as many opportunities as men to discuss, review, be reviewed, and engage in literary communities or, for that matter, in public conversations. Which is weird, isn’t it, given how many women write and how many more women read? It also means that readers don’t get as much opportunity to hear from women about writing. They hear even less from women whose voices, no matter how loudly we shout, are silenced or ignored because of how we look or live or identify or who we love. So here we are. Talking, questioning, laughing (we apologise in advance for the bad jokes), challenging, wondering, ranting and enabling (but in a good way). We are unladylike. That’s not an apology.
