I once sat in a room full of aspiring women writers and listened to an academic poet from Auckland University tell us how to write. He placed his hands on the table in front of him and intoned: ‘Lady writers, eh? A nice little hobby. Now would you like to hear what real writers do?’
So there it was. Men’s work was real, women’s a hobby.
Fiona Kidman, “A New Breed of Women,” in Sue Kedgley and Mary Varnham (eds), Heading Nowhere in a Navy Blue Suit, Daphne Brasell Associates Press: Wellington, 1993, pp. 132 – 146
Later in the essay Fiona Kidman says that this happened when she was 24. That places the event in the mid 1960s.
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I attended a couple of writing workshops that Fiona organised through Vic’s continuing ed program. Also, in true kiwi ‘two degrees of separation’, her husband worked with my ex-husband. She was an inspiration to me and I often think of her when I’m writing, although I haven’t seen her for many years. She is a hard-working, generous and intelligent writer.
That would be “Dame lady writer” to you Sir.