Centenary

Our Centenary Celebration 1925 -2025 of Society of Women’s Writers NSW

colleen General , , ,

 

It was very special to be part of the Centenary Celebrations for the Society of Women Writers. The photo above is Pip Griffin and myself celebrating at the Rooftop Bar with its spectacular views over the Domain and Botanical Gardens and the Harbour.

1925 -2025.

We are a group of Sydney Writers who claaim to have in our story the brave women of the 1920’s , World Wars, Depression, the Cold War, the struggle for equality , diversity and Inclusivity.over the past 100 years.

Women including Ruth Park, Ethel Turner, Dame Mary Gilmore ,Florence Baverstock, Dorothy McKellar and Eleanor Dark who left her home, ‘Varuna’ in Katoomba as a writers retreat and when I joined I sat next to Margaret Whitlam who was a very generous member.

Celebrating our Centenary . . .   Jan Conway former President, the 2024 recipient of the Di Yerbury Award and present  editor of Wome’s Ink , Libby Hathorn, Childrens writer and the creator of the animation for our centenary, yours truly and Nell Jones the 2025 recipient of the Di Yerbury Residency Award. 

To view the video and/or listen to the accompanying song separately, please visit our website: https://womenwritersnsw.org/…/our-centenary-animation…

Our Centenary Animation Video

Huge thanks to Libby Hathorn and Hamish Gilbert, and the SWW Centenary Committee as well as the other contributors and decision-makers who made this video and song possible.

To view the video and/or listen to the accompanying song separately, please visit our website: https://womenwritersnsw.org/news/our-centenary-animation-video

Celebrating our Centenary – 100 years  of the Society of Women Writers NSW. Libby Hathorn spoke passionately about the power of women’s creativeity and presented the animation of SWW’s 100 years. Richard Neville officially launched the start of the celebrations . Maria McDougall the coordinator of the 100 years warmly welcomed a packed audience.

Afterwards we retired to the new Rooftop Winery for Champagne and nibbles to toast the beginning of our year.

 

 

 

 

 

Francis Webb Centenary ed Rochford Street Review

colleen Poetry, Uncategorized , , , ,

 

FRANCIS WEBB CENTENARY – 8 FEBRUARY 2025

by

8 February 2025 marks the centenary of the birth of Australian poet Francis Webb. Born at Rose Park, Adelaide, Francis went to live with his paternal parents in Sydney in 1931 after the death of mother and the institutionalisation of his father for depression. The young Webb was writing poetry at 7 years old and by 1942 his work was appearing in The Bulletin. His first collection, A Drum for Ben Boyd (1948), was described by Douglas Stewart as major poetry’ and ‘without parallel’ for a debut poet.

Writing about the Webb Centenary Dr Toby Davidson, a poet himself and a  Webb scholar based at Macquarie University, and editor of the UWAP updated edition of Francis Webb’s Collected Poems, writes:

By 1969, when Webb’s career effectively ended with his Collected Poems, he had profoundly influenced both the postwar and late 60s generations. Les Murray called him ‘the gold standard by which complex poetic language has been judged’, while Gwen Harwood wrote that Webb was ‘unmatched’ and Judith Wright declared ‘He’s done so much suffering for me and I’ve read him so much and I think that’s what poetry is for’. 

Today, Webb is recognised by a new generation as the first Australian poet to write about mental health and the lives of mental patients when it was utterly taboo, informed by his redemptive, transcendent Catholicism. 

Francis Webb will forever be the ultimate ‘poet’s poet’, but he belongs to all Australians and this milestone is a chance to reflect on his legacy which elevates us all. 

To celebrate the centenary year of Webb’s birth Dr Davidson will be convening a series of publications, podcasts and readings in his honour throughout 2025. Details of these events can be found at https:// uwap.uwa.edu.au/ blogs/marginalia/ centenary-of-major-australian-poet-francis-webb

To mark the actual centenary Rochford Street Review is republishing Robert Adamson’s important essay Something Absolutely Splendid as well as the poem ‘Two Canticles’, a poem about Webb by Colleen Keating:

– Mark Roberts