The Edinburgh Festival brings together artists from all over the world, and Cowrie is among them, telling stories and giving readings. But even Cowrie can’t anticipate the chemistry that will begin when a group of traditional storytellers sets off to the Orkney Islands with Ellen, to stay at her coastal family cottages. For Ellen turns out to be Morrigan, and Morrigan is a selkie, living in...

A SPINIFEX FEMINIST CLASSIC

Our house was a single-fronted cottage in the slum area of Carlton. There were no distinctive features to differentiate it from most of the small cottages ...

Zelda D'Aprano, a working-class woman at the forefront of the Women's Liberation Movement in Australia, shows in her autobiography the same raw spirit she evidenced when chaining herself to the...

A SPINIFEX FEMINIST CLASSIC

A Gap in the Records is about spies. But these are no ordinary spies. In a world where women are unnoticed, women make excellent spies. Gathering information, attending functions or taking a simple holiday by the beach, these women are to be reckoned with. From Paraguay to Paris, from Hong Kong to Pine Gap, the women are watching and interfering. A Gap in the...

A SPINIFEX FEMINIST CLASSIC

Remember The Tarantella is a remarkable work. It's learned and frivolous, female not feminine, silly and serious. Written in several strands of narrative, the many characters create a space as if reading were a dance party. Story is not the main objective. Private conversations and thoughts are always within earshot of the rhythm of others, like the stamping of...