Rose Scott Women Writers' Festival 2023
The Rose Scott Women Writers' Festival is presented annually by The Women's Club. RSWWF is a literary festival run, owned and operated by women for women writers. It showcases the rich diversity of contemporary Australian women writers across fiction and non-fiction, in print, performance and digital media which explore personal, social and political issues. It has recently been described as 'one of the most significant literary festivals on Sydney's cultural calendar' (stella.org.au).
2023 Program
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Festival Director's Message
We celebrated the ten-year anniversary of the Rose Scott Women Writers Festival at The Women’s Club.
Born out of a desire to celebrate women writers, the festival has showcased the strengths of the literary field through the talents of each Festival Director: Margaret McKay, Dr Wendy Michaels, Angela Bowne SC, Catherine Du Peloux Menage, and Kathryn Millard. Each Festival Director has offered her passion and unique talents to the festival curation – expanding the Festival’s reach through imaginative programming and innovative partnerships – striving always to put the woman writer front and centre of the conversation.
With the launch of the federal government’s “Revive: The National Cultural Policy,” the literary landscape is primed for a reinvigorated and refocused vision for the centrality of writers in our socio-political and cultural life. Included in the national policy is the proposal for the establishment of an Australian poet laureate, and an agency recognising the importance of publishers and authors to our ideas of self, community and nationhood.
Australia’s international standing has likewise been elevated by the release of a raft of astounding debut authors and publications offering fresh perspectives from first nations communities and culturally and linguistically diverse peoples across the nation, with Australian women writers leading the charge on redefining representations of our culture on the national and international stage. Rose Scott Women Writers’ Festival celebrates its anniversary in this context of booming cultural strength and unprecedented complexity and nuance.
2023 drew on the legacy of Rose Scott’s famously vibrant salons, while keeping at its core the values of The Women’s Club founders who were driven by their vision of a more equitable and inclusive society for all Australians. In many ways, this year of celebration is an opportunity to reflect on the successes of the past, honour the artists and ideas of our time and to look ahead to how we might continue our national cultural conversations.
The Women’s Club boasts more than a dozen literary, arts and cultural circles - brimming with conversation and provocation, providing inspiration for the writers within our membership ranks and the club’s profusion of dedicated readers.
Augusta Supple
2023 RSWWF Festival Director
2023 Festival Sponsors and Partners
