Sweatshop launches workshop for cultural diverse female authors
A NEW western Sydney women’s writers’ group has formed to give female authors from diverse backgrounds a literary leg-up.
The Express
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WINNIE Dunn, 22, wants to know when was the last time you read a book written by a woman from another cultural background?
The Tongan-born writer believes Australians are “missing out” on the cultural smorgasbord that should be available on bookshelves in Australia.
To help give women a literary leg-up, a Bankstown based writer’s group called Sweatshop has tasked Dunn with spearheading a new workshop called The Writers’ Collective for Diverse Women.
The workshop will run monthly in Parramatta and Bankstown from next month and aims to help create a “safe and critical” space for cultural diverse female authors.
“Australian literature often overlooks stories written by women from non-English speaking backgrounds,” Dunn said.
“The only Tongan-Australian story we have is Chris Lilley’s (Jonah from Tonga). If that’s all Australia is engaging with, a white guy in brown paint, then we have a lot of responsibility to take up.”
Funded by Create NSW, the workshop will bring together emerging writers as well as established authors like Michelle de Kretser, Julie Koh, Michelle Cahill, Randa Abdel-Fattah and Sarah Ayoub.
The outcome of the workshops will be a published anthology, to be launched at the Sydney’s Writers’ Festival in 2019, which will showcase the group’s stories and poems.
Sweatshop founder and director, Dr Michael Mohammed Ahmad, is hoping the collective will lead to a new chapter in women’s literature.
“This initiative will give diverse female writers from our region a chance to learn from Australia’s best authors,” he said.
For more information visit the Sweatshop website.
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