Literature and the arts are key influencing factors for the progression of society. The growth and evolution of feminism is no different.
Aphra Behn declared herself a professional writer in the 1600s – the first female to do so. Since then women have been contributing to the arts and helping to shape our society.
This series of classes will explore what feminism through history and what it means today, as well as the lives, works and lasting legacies of some extraordinary female authors:
All classes are $16 and will be held at Embiggen Books.
What's it all about? Angela Carter's works made her an acclaimed novelist, short story writer and journalist. Her subversive magic realism challenges binary representations of women that are typical within children's fairy tales. Carter penned the controversial and fascinating short stories in The Bloody Chamber. This collection will serve as the basis for this introduction…
What's it all about? Aphra Behn was famously described as 'a woman in a world of men'. She worked as a spy for Charles II and then, as an exquisite playwright, poet and translator in Restoration England, she was one of the most influential writers of the late seventeenth century and was the first woman…
What's it all about? Born in New Zealand, Kathleen Mansfield was a prominent modernist short story writer. She wrote under the pen name Katherine Mansfield. At 19, Mansfield left New Zealand and settled in the United Kingdom, where she became a friend of modernist writers such as D. H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf. Her delicate…
What's it all about? Jeanette Winterson is an award-winning English writer who became famous with her first book, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. She explores gender polarities and sexual identity in her varied and continuously developing novels. Winterson dips her toes into the realms of magic realism and post-modernism. Her works toy with non-linear…
What's it all about? Feminism has changed, adapted and inverted itself into many varying and diverse forms since its inception. Each generation has built upon the ideals, principles and visions of the generations before. But what does being a feminist means today? And indeed, what does it mean to you? What we will cover? In this…
What's it all about? Virginia Woolf is one of the foremost modernists of the twentieth century, and one of the greatest feminist English writers throughout history. During the interwar period, Woolf was a significant figure in literary and intellectual society. She was a key member of London literary society and a central figure in the…
What's it all about? Margaret Atwood is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist and environmental activist. She is most known for her feminist fiction. In this class we will focus on her immensely popular and controversial text, The Handmaid's Tale. We will use this work to gain a better understanding of the themes and…
The images used are in the public domain, under Creative Commons licences or were taken by Laneway Learning: feature image, Margaret Atwood, Virginia Woolf, Jeanette Winterson, Katherine Mansfield, Aphra Behn, Angela Carter.
