International Women’s Day – Celebrating Women Authors

International Women’s Day – Celebrating Women Authors

In my reading, I am always trying to read as many women authors as possible – especially Australian authors, as I often see male authors promoted a lot. Whilst in Australia, all our authors need promotion, in light of International Women’s Day, I want to focus on Australian women writers. Most of my favourite authors are women, and typically Australian as well, so I read lots of them and read as diversely as possible across women writers as well – though as those of us in the bookish community acknowledge, we cannot read everything! In my CBCA Sub-branch, we discussed the CBCA Notables the other week, and I read the list the next day, and was pleased to see that there seemed to be an equal smattering of books by men and women.

For International Women’s Day, I have decided to feature three of my favourite books by Australian women. There were too many to choose from, so these are the ones that have stood out to me.

The Matilda Saga by Jackie French

The Matilda Saga began with A Waltz for Matilda in 2010 and ended this year with the ninth and final book, Clancy of the Overflow, which came out in 2019.  The Matilda Saga tells history from a different side – the voices often silenced based on race, gender, class or a combination of these, and other factors such as disability, and other experiences that are not always recorded in the history books. From 1894 to the 1980s, the series spans nearly one hundred years of changes in Australian society – from cars to Federation, to war and the social movements of the sixties and seventies. The silenced voices in this series have one thing in common: they are women, as are most of the main characters in Jackie French’s books, and they traverse the realm of diversity – race, disability, wealth, class, and age – they all have a voice in her books and that’s what makes this series a powerful and important read to understand the silenced voices, and the voices that can still be ignored sometimes.

Anything by Kate Forsyth

I’ve been reading Kate Forsyth for the better part of two decades – starting with The Starthorn Tree, and diving into The Witches of Eileanan, to most recently, her fantastic fairy-tale infused historical fiction books, from The Wild Girl to Beauty in Thorns, The Beast’s Garden, and her most recent, The Crimson Thread. All her books feature strong girls – girls and women who rebel, who resist expectations and go on adventures. I like her historical fiction because it allows readers to see how women have worked and contributed throughout history, from Dortchen Wilde giving many stories to the Brothers Grimm, to characters like Ava and Alenka who partake in the resistance movements in Germany and Greece against the Nazis. Her children’s books also have girls who don’t really fit into what those around them want – and this is fabulous. I have read as many as possible, but I think The Puzzle Ring is my favourite, and I have read it so many times, but is one of those magical, and comforting reads. Kate is another woman author who should be read widely.

Waiting for the Storks by Katrina Nannestad

Another historical fiction featuring a girl as the main character. Zofia has been kidnapped from Poland and taken to an orphanage to be adopted into a German family – she looks German so therefore she can be part of the building of the German empire in World War II. Zofia’s story is one of survival – she must forget being a Polish girl and become a German girl to survive the war – but the tug of her past and her real family is real. This one is powerful because it shows a different side to history and different women’s stories – we see how girls like Zofia coped during the war, and what she had to do to survive. I enjoyed all her war books because they tell important stories – stories that might not be as well-known as the other stories and events we learn about when it comes to World War II.

All three authors featured have one thing in common – survival and women’s stories, and these are powerful and necessary. Stories that we need to know, I think. I am always drawn to these stories to understand what these characters and people like them throughout history would have gone through. When it comes to International Women’s Day, these stories remind us of women and their ability to survive and what they have done to survive discrimination that is still ongoing in some places, though it may not always be obvious, and the ways discrimination has manifested itself throughout history. These are just some of the important books that need to be read to learn about women’s history. There are many more books in the non-fiction area that will give you an interesting overview of women’s history.

Non-Fiction Suggestions

• Rebel Women: The Renegades, Viragos, and Heroines who changed the world from the French Revolution to Today by Rosalind Miles
• Rebel Women Who Changed Australia by Susanna De Vries
• Women and Power by Mary Beard
• Warrior Queens and Quiet Revolutionaries: How Women (Also) Built the World by Kate Mosse
• Sheilas: Badass Women of Australian History by Eliza Reilly

This is not an exhaustive list – just the ones I can think of, so head to your library or bookstore for more suggestions!