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Join us for an intimate evening as Josie McSkimming discusses her compelling memoir Gutsy Girls with acclaimed literary biographer Bernadette Brennan.
Gutsy Girls offers a rare and deeply personal insight into the life of one of Australia's most charismatic literary figures, Dorothy Porter, as told by her younger sister. With unprecedented access to Porter's personal diaries and letters, McSkimming weaves a captivating story of sisterhood, creative power, and forging one's own path.
Dorothy Porter achieved broader fame through her bestselling queer crime verse novel, The Monkey's Mask, and took poetry and performance to new heights. But behind the public persona was a complex family dynamic. Born to renowned barrister Chester Porter, Dot, Josie, and their sister Mary grew up in an unpredictable home on Sydney's northern beaches, each seeking their own form of escape and ultimately forging impressive careers.
This special event explores the sisters' divergent journeys—Josie through evangelical Christianity and psychotherapy, Dorothy through "the Arts" and sex—and celebrates the enduring bonds that connect us even as we chart our own distinct paths.
About the Author and Interviewer:
Josie McSkimming is a social worker, psychotherapist, university lecturer and author. She is the youngest of three sisters, her eldest being the award-winning poet, Dorothy Porter. Josie has appeared on many podcasts, radio programs, and on ABC TV. She is committed to social change and social justice and has become an ardent amateur naturalist and environmentalist. She was once an insider of evangelical Christianity, until she became a loud protesting outsider. Josie lives in Sydney.
Her most recent book is 'Gutsy Girls' (2025) UQP, a family memoir of her late sister, the trailblazing queer writer, Dorothy Porter. Josie has this to say about the book. Her previous book is 'Leaving Christian Fundamentalism and the Reconstruction of Identity' (2016) Routledge, about how identity changes when people leave high demand religious churches and communities.
Bernadette Brennan is a biographer, critic and researcher of contemporary Australian writing. She is the author of a number of publications, including a monograph on Brian Castro and two edited collections: Just Words?: Australian Authors Writing for Justice (UQP 2008), and Ethical Investigations: Essays on Australian Literature and Poetics (Vagabond 2008). In 2017 she published her award-winning literary biography A Writing Life: Helen Garner and Her Work (Text). Her most recent book, Leaping Into Waterfalls: The Enigmatic Gillian Mears (A&U 2021), was shortlisted for the 2022 NSW Premier’s Douglas Stewart award and won the Magarey Medal for Biography, the National Biography Award and the Age Book of the Year (non-fiction). Bernadette is currently working on a literary biography of Drusilla Modjeska.
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