The books that shaped me

The Honourable Virginia Bell AC, SC, is a former Justice of the High Court of Australia.She was sworn in on 3 February 2009, and retired on 28 February 2021. At the time of her appointment she was a judge of the New South Wales Court of Appeal. She began her legal career as a solicitor with the Redfern Legal Centre, then was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1984 and appointed Senior Counsel in 1997. She practised as a public defender between 1986 and 1989 before returning to the private Bar. Between 1994 and 1997 she was a counsel assisting the Royal Commission into the New South Wales Police Service. Bell was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales in March 1999. She has been the Patron of the Rose Scott Women Writers’ Festival for several years, and during that time has both informed and entertained the audience at RSWWF Opening Night events.

After a career in educational publishing, Catherine du Peloux Menagé is now a teacher and facilitator at writers’ festivals and literary events. She co-founded the St Albans Writers’ Festival in 2015 and was its Artistic Director from 2015 to 2018. Catherine has been Director of the Rose Scott Women Writers’ Festival since 2020.  She has been Artistic Director of BAD Sydney since 2019 and is a judge of the annual Ned Kelly Awards for crime writing.