Almost a century on from the publication of Virginia Woolf’s powerful feminist polemic, the debate about the constraints women face in the pursuit of intellectual freedom and creative work rumbles on.

Samuel Johnson Prize-winning Australian author Anna Funder (Wifedom) whose research into Orwell’s forgotten wife forced her to interrogate her own role as both writer and wife; esteemed scholar and former Aotearoa New Zealand Poet Laureate Selina Tusitala Marsh (Wot Knot You Got?); and celebrated American novelist and essayist Leslie Jamison (Splinters) talk to Paula Morris about what obstructions and forces remain between women and their work, and discuss how much progress has really been made in the decades since Woolf’s landmark lecture.

Supported by SHIFT.

Update 02.04.24: On medical grounds, Leïla Slimani is sadly no longer able to appear at Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki. The Festival is delighted that Selina Tusitala Marsh has joined the event.

Also at Auckland Writers Festival 2024

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Last updated: 12 March 2024