Australian Women Writers Challenge 2012
Just because I am hosting the 2012 Aussie Author Challenge (see details) that does not stop me from signing up to participate in the very topical Australian Women Writers Challenge.
There has been much discussion lately about how under-represented females are in Australian literary prize winner lists.
Tara Moss’ blog post ‘Are our Sisters In Crime (still) fighting against a male-dominated literary world?‘ sparked much heated discussion. This discussion got me thinking…
I had always assumed that I read male and female authors equally. A quick count on the authors represented on my blog yielded some interesting stats.
- Of the 135 reviews I have published so far, 69 are written by women – that’s 51.5%;
- Of the total number of reviews on this site, roughly 20% of those are by Australian authors;
- Of those written by Australian authors, 48% of those were written by women.
I am very pleased with these results.
Perhaps I’m not that influenced by literary prize winner lists?
Whatever the reason, I want to ensure I continue this reading equilibrium. In my Aussie Author Challenge I will be participating at the Dinky-Di Level – 12 books by Australia authors. So I will be signing up to the Australian Women Writers Challenge at the Devoted Eclectic Miles Level – 6 books, many genres.
I will undoubtedly read more than 12 books by Aussie Authors in 2012, but I like to not impose too many constraints on my leisure reading!
Just some of the titles by Australian Women Writers I have in my sights for 2012 include:
FIVE BELLS by Gail Jones – I read her Dreams of Speaking early this year and was mesmerised.
THE SHIFTING FOG (The House at Riverton) by Kate Morton – Morton another author I tried for the first time this year, thoroughly enjoying her The Forgotten Garden in audio.
INDELIBLE INK by Fiona McGregor – I have not read a title by McGregor before but I have heard great things.
For some chick lit I might try Liane Moriarty’s What Alice Forgot and I am eagerly awaiting Tara Moss‘ next instalment in her Makedde Vanderwall thriller series, Assassin due for publication in 2012-13. I have always wanted to read a title by Shirley Hazzard too.
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