Author/Editor: Susan Hawthorne
Biography
Susan Hawthorne is a poet, novelist, aerialist, political activist and publisher. Born in Wagga Wagga, she grew up in rural New South Wales. She has a BA (Hons) from La Trobe University in Philosophy, an MA (Prelim) in Ancient Greek language and a PhD in Political Science and Women’s Studies both from the University of Melbourne, and is currently back at La Trobe studying Sanskrit.
She is the author of five collections of poetry, a novel, political theory and a quiz book. Among them are Bird (1999), The Butterfly Effect (2005), Earth’s Breath (2009), The Falling Woman (1992), Wild Politics (2002) and The Spinifex Quiz Book (1993). Her work has been selected as best books of the year on several occasions. She co-edited September 11, 2001: Feminist Perspectives with Bronwyn Winter (2002) and CyberFeminism with Renate Klein (1999).
She is a Research Associate at Victoria University, Melbourne where she has supervised postgraduates writing MAs and PhDs in Creative Writing for more than a decade.
She is also a publisher and Director of Spinifex Press and played a leading role among independent Australian publishers in innovative and eBook publishing.
Website: http://susanscowblog.blogspot.com/
• http://susanspoliticalblog.blogspot.com/
News
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27 Jul 2010 Blog: a civil war against women
Read Susan Hawthorne's blog about rape in the Congo. |
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21 Jul 2010 Event: Susan Hawthorne at the Queensland Poetry Festival
Susan Hawthorne will be performing at the Queensland Poetry Festival this year. The festival runs from 27-29 August at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts, Brisbane.
You can find an interview with Susan up on the festival's website, where she talks about her poetry, Sanskrit, words and Spinifex Press. |
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06 Jul 2010 Susan Hawthorne on Julia Gillard
Susan Hawthorne – political scientist, author, poet and Spinifex director – has written a blog post for the Women's Media Centre about Julia Gillard and her own 'cautious optimism' about our new PM:
Julia Gillard is shaking some long-held norms however, since not only is she female, she’s also single... She is also not religious, a distinct difference from former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. One doesn’t hear her speak of herself as a feminist, but many of her assumptions and actions are clearly based on an underlying feminist worldview.
Click here to read the whole article. |
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29 Jun 2010 Not that one woman can, but that every woman can
A few news clippings on Australia's first female PM: Susan Hawthorne has been quoted in the Sunday Age article about the ascension of Julia Gillard, "The female factor: what difference will a woman make?"
The Scavenger also has an article on Gillard worth reading: "Glass ceiling remains intact in Australia".
Germaine Greer's article "Pragmatism rules over principles for Julia Gillard" is another feminist take on our new PM. |
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15 Jun 2010 Blog: A Quit Porn Campaign
Spinifex director Susan Hawthorne reflects on the damaging effects and pervasiveness of porn in contemporary society after attending the Stop Porn Conference in Boston. |
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11 Jun 2010 Event: Susan Hawthorne in San Francisco
Susan Hawthorne, author of last year's Earth's Breath, will be giving two readings in San Francisco this month.
Solo event at The Sitting Room, 16 June
Susan will be giving poetry reading, discussion on feminist publishing and more. The Sitting Room is a semi-private library devoted to women's writings and a community center for writers and reader.
The Sitting Room: A Community Library
l70 E. Cotati Ave. Cotati CA 94931
Potluck food from 6 p.m. Event begins at 7 p.m.
Montclair Women's Cultural Arts Club, 17 June
Susan is speaking as part of the program at the Montclair Women's Cultural Arts Club on the night of the 17 June.
Montclair Women's Cultural Arts Club
1650 Mountain Blvd. Oakland, CA. 94611
Tel: 510-339-1832
Doors open 7.00 pm, event begins 7.30 p.m. |
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21 May 2010 A literary blogpost
Where eBooks tread, metadata will follow. We've been writing lots of metadata for all of our books recently, and Susan Hawthorne has written a poem about it. You can find it at our blog. |
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06 May 2010 Event: Pages to Poetry in May
Spinifex author Susan Hawthorne will take part in Readings’ May ‘Pages to Poetry’ event. Highlighting the recently released anthology Out of the Box: Contemporary Australian Gay and Lesbian Poets, contributor Peter Rose and co-editor Michael Farrell will also be reading.
Monday 10 May, 6.30pm, Readings Carlton.
Free, no need to book, but for more details visit the Readings site. |
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18 Mar 2010 Earth's Breath on Poetica
This Saturday 20 March, Susan Hawthorne's book Earth's Breath will be featured on Poetica on Radio National. The show will run at 3pm, and be repeated at 3pm the following Thursday. You an also download the podcast after the event at the Poetica website. |
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09 Feb 2010 "I guess one natural disaster speaks to another."
After reading Earth's Breath, Jordie Albiston reflected on Black Saturday:
"I have spent this morning & yesterday in the grip of Earth's Breath. I have been tossed around & torn apart by it, put back together & placated by it. I love it. Having lived many years in Kinglake & surrounds, I was very affected by the fires this year. Unexpectedly, I found your book relevant & moving in terms of the Black Saturday context. I guess one natural disaster speaks to another." |
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02 Dec 2009 Art's Tryst with Nature - Eltham Bookshop
Susan Hawthorne will discusss art and nature with historian and biographer Janine Burke and curator Susan McCulloch at Eltham Bookshop, Thurs 10 December.
Where: Long Gallery, Montsalvat, Hillcrest Ave, Eltham (near the swimming pool)
Time: 7-9pm
Date: Thurs 10 December
Cost: $10 (includes refreshments)
Bookings and enquiries: Eltham Bookshop, tel 9439 8700 or elthambookshop@bigpond.com |
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05 Nov 2009 Best Australian Poems 2009
Susan Hawthorne has been featured in this year's The Best Australian Poems 2009, edited by Robert Adamson, and published by Black Inc Books. Susan's poem, "Climate change: yugantameghaha" is from her recent book Earth's Breath. |
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24 Sep 2009 Susan Hawthorne on Feminist Peace Network
Susan Hawthorne has a new poem featured on the Feminist Peace Network's website. Read the poem on their website here. It is in reaction to the proposed mining of the Liverpool Plains in NSW. |
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07 Jul 2009 APC Poem of the Month
'Hamish, Australia, 8 March 2009' from Susan Hawthorne's new collection of eco-poetry, Earth's Breath is featured as this month's 'poem of the month' on the Australian Poetry Centre website: www.australianpoetrycentre.org.au |
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19 May 2009 Underground Talks @ New International Bookshop
Susan Hawthorne on 'Activism Makes the World Go Around'
Author, publisher, academic - and activist for 35 years - Susan will reflect on her work around issues of feminism, ecology, globalisation, disability and sexuality ... and share some of her inspiration!
Wednesday 3 June, 6 for 6:30pm, $5 entry
New International Bookshop, 54 Victoria St, Carlton (Trades Hall building) http://nibs.org.au/ |
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28 Apr 2009 Amazon de-ranking of lesbian and gay content
Read Spinifex Press Director Susan Hawthorne's piece on Amazon's de-ranking of content at: http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=8831 |
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20 May 2009 Dorothy Porter Tribute Reading
Susan Hawthorne will be participating in a tribute reading for Dorothy Porter on Thursday 28 May, 6 for 6.30pm at Collected Works. Other readers include: Kris Hemensley, Jenny Harrison, Alex Skovron, Gig Ryan, Elizabeth Campbell, Chris Wallace-Crabbe, Andrea Goldsmith, Kristin Henry, Philip Salom.
Collected Works is on the first floor of the Nicholas Building near Victorian Writers Centre. Enter from downstairs, at the corner of Swanston Street and Flinders Lane (opposite St Pauls). |
Awards and Translations
Publishing
1996 Winner, Hall of Fame Award, The Rainbow Awards for contribution to the Gay and Lesbian Community.
1991 Pandora New Venture Award, Women in Publishing International for Spinifex Press.
1989 Florence James Pandora Award for Outstanding Contribution to Women’s Publishing.
1988 Barbara Ramsden Award for editing (shared with Jackie Yowell), for work on Stories from the Warm Zone by Jessica Anderson.
Non-fiction
Wild Politics, 2002 Australian Book Review, best book of the year
The Spinifex Quiz Book, 1994 Listed as one the best Secondary Educational Texts in the Australian Educational Awards.
Fiction
The Falling Woman, 1992 Top Twenty Title in New Zealand Listener Women’s Book Festival.
The Falling Woman, 1992 Listed as one of the Best Books of 1992 in The Australian.
Translations:
The Spinifex Quiz Book - Spanish, German
Australia for Women: Travel and Culture - German
Books published by, or available from, Spinifex
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