Banquet2010

A feast of new writing and art by Australian queer women. Available now from The Feminist Bookshop. Watch this space for info on Sydney book launch soon.

Visit www.banquetpress.com if you would like to contribute writing, poetry, or art to 2011 edition.

New Fiction for Young Readers

Two of our favourite authors have released new books for teenagers and the young at heart.



The Battle of the Sun
by Jeanette Winterson
Same award-winning author of Tanglewreck, Battle of the Sun is Jeanette's second novel for young readers.



New and Collected Poems for Children
by Carol Ann Duffy
Carol is Britain's first woman Poet Laureate, and she has just released this gorgeous and funny book of poems.

LATEST RELEASE: The Bee Hut, Dorothy Porter

The bookshop was saddened and reflective to receive today the latest work of the late, great Dorothy Porter.

The Bee Hut, Doroty Porter's fifteenth book, brings together the poems she wrote in the last five years of her life. By turns expansive and intimate, effusive and contemplative, these poems roam widely: there are journeys into history and to sacred places both mythic and deeply personal.

With a touching foreword by her partner Andrea Goldsmith, we will spend today reflecting on how much Dorothy's work deeply touched and aroused us.

In store now.
$24.95

Latest Release "The Lost Mother" by Anne Summers

After her mother’s death in 2005, Anne Summers inherits a portrait of her mother as a child. Mesmerised by this image, she finds herself drawn into the story of how the portrait was painted and eventually found its way into her family. She soon learns the artist painted another portrait of her mother; this time, as the Madonna.

In a gripping narrative that is part art history, part detective story and part meditation on the relations between mothers and daughters, Anne’s search for the Madonna painting and the mysterious Russian émigré who bought both paintings takes her down unexpected paths. Her search soon turns into a parallel quest to retrieve Constance Stokes, the artist, from obscurity, and to learn why the collector suddenly abandoned the paintings. Along the way Anne finds she must face the truth of the relationship she had with her mother. In turn hypnotic and moving, The Lost Mother is a powerful exploration of art, loss and love.

In store on Tuesday 30 June!

Anne Summers is a best selling Australian author, journalist and speaker on political and social, especially women's, issues. Anne led the Office of the Status of Women from 1983-86 and was advisor to Prime Ministers Paul Keating and Bob Hawke. She is a former editor of Good Weekend, and is a Sydney Morning Herald columnist.

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Latest Release

Out and About: Sydney's Lesbian Social Scene 1960s - 1980s
$15.00

Uses oral histories and photos to describe women's memories of Sydney's lesbian social scene, from iconic venues such as the Sussex Hotel and Ruby Reds to the Clover social club, women's dances and house parties.

Lesbians in Sydney from the 1960s to the 1980s were as diverse a group as Sydney lesbians are today. Getting out and about meant different things to different women, but all of the lesbians who have so generously shared their memories and stories for this booklet had one thing in common: going out on the town with other gay people really mattered.

Out and About: Sydney's Lesbian Social Scene 1960s - 1980s

Latest Release

Sexual Fluidity : Understanding women's love and desire
by Lisa Diamond
$42.95

This unsettling and original book offers a radical new understanding of the context-dependent nature of female sexuality. The author argues that for some women love and desire are not rigidly heterosexual or homosexual but fluid, changing as women move through stages of life, various social groups,and most important, different love relationships.

Fascinating chapters such as:
Will the real lesbians please stand up...
gender differences in same-sex sexuality...
sexual fluidity in action...
change in sexual attractions...

...definitely one for women, queer and bft readers.

Latest Release - Homophobia

Homophobia
An Australian History
Shirleene Robinson (ed)
Published by The Federation Press
www.federationpress.com.au
ISBN 978 1 86287 703 0 • PB • 272pp
RRP $39.95
October 2008


The Book
Homophobia is a prejudice with effects that extend far beyond the gay and lesbian community. While its physical, emotional and social effects have been charted to some extent, the development of homophobia in Australia has yet to be fully explored. Homophobia: An Australian History is the fi rst book to consider homophobia in a distinctively Australian context. In this collection, thirteen well-known scholars examine the embedded homophobic attitudes that Australian gay and lesbian activists have fought to change. The book traces the evolution of homophobia, from its expression in Australia’s past as a colonial settler society, through to manifestations in present day society. The compilation of this text is timely, given the 2007 release of the Same Sex: Same Entitlements report of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. The release of this report, which focused on institutionalised and legal homophobia, has raised public awareness of these issues and sparked broader debates about homosexual rights. The thirtieth anniversary of Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras earlier this year also offers an ideal opportunity to refl ect on the past gains and future goals of the gay and lesbian rights movement.

The collected chapters in this book argue that homophobia developed in conjunction with the growth of a modern homosexual identity in the second half of the nineteenth century. To various extents, the legal and medical professions and other social institutions have perpetuated homophobic attitudes. Homophobia: An Australian History raises awareness of the devastating impact these attitudes can have on individuals and on society.

Download flyer & order form here.

Available from The Feminist Bookshop.