Podcast appearances and mentions of Anne Summers

SERIES 7: Better With Age. It takes courage to reinvent yourself professionally, yet it becomes a necessity for many people over 50. Bestselling author Kathy Lette and publishing exec Jane Curry share their hilarious experiences of pushing through career blocks and tiresome ageing stereotypes. Brought to you by Australian Seniors, in partnership with RSPCA. Join Jean Kittson for the seventh season of DARE: The Time of Your Life (formerly Life’s Booming), called Better With Age. Australians are actually living longer, healthier lives, and reshaping what older looks like. So in this series, we are chatting with over 50s who are rewriting the ageing rule book, from career pivots to second acts. This episode celebrates the Reinvention Generation, and explores how we can continue to push through career blocks and debunk tiresome stereotypes as we age. Is it because that's just how we're wired? Or is it to prove that our best work is still ahead? Kathy Lette is an internationally bestselling author of more than 20 books, which have been translated into 20 languages. Her latest bestselling book, The Sisterhood Rules, takes readers on a rollercoaster ride that proves that from pain comes healing, from honesty comes forgiveness, and that nothing is more important than your sisters. Jane Curry is a highly experienced publishing executive, and managing director of Simon and Schuster, Australia and New Zealand. Jane is also the founder of Ventura Press, which she established to champion older female (and male) authors. Watch DARE: The Time of Your Life on YouTube Listen to DARE: The Time of Your Life on Apple Podcasts Listen to DARE: The Time of Your Life on Spotify For more information visit seniors.com.au/podcast Produced by Medium Rare Content Agency -- TRANSCRIPT Jean Kittson: Welcome to a new season of DARE: The Time of Your Life, formerly Life’s Booming, brought to you by Australian Seniors, in partnership with RSPCA. Hello I'm Jean Kittson, and this season is called Better With Age. We're flipping the script and showing how ageing is NOT a dirty word, rather it’s your time to live your life to its fullest. Australians are actually living longer, healthier lives, and reshaping what older looks like. So in this series, we are chatting with over 50s who are rewriting the ageing rule book, from career pivots to second acts. This episode celebrates the Reinvention Generation, and explores how we can continue to push through career blocks and debunk tiresome stereotypes as we age. Is it because that's just how we're wired? Or is it to prove that our best work is still ahead? To help us answer such questions is Jane Curry, a highly experienced publishing executive and newly-appointed managing director of Simon and Schuster, Australia and New Zealand. Jane is also the founder of Ventura Press, a company she started as a way of championing older female authors, many of whom only turned to writing later in life. And joining Jane is the fabulous author and beloved friend Kathy Lette. Her career has pushed boundaries from the get go, when she left school at 16 to write her debut novel, Puberty Blues. It had parents wringing their hands while teens lapped it up. And it was later turned into a movie and a TV series. She's gone on to pen more than 20 bestselling books, including her latest, the Sisterhood Rules, which has topped bestseller lists worldwide, and it's funny, fabulous and always empowering. Jane, Kathy, it's wonderful to have you both in the studio to speak about yourselves and your work. Kathy Lette: …and about you and your amazing work and your incredible life. Jean Kittson: Oh, do go on! Kathy Lette: My comic goddess right here before us, Jean. Jean's broken so many boundaries with her comedy. Jean Kittson: Oh Kathy, you’re amazing, and she's a long, long time beloved friend. And as you, in your words, you are my human wonder bra… Kathy Lette: …uplifting and supportive. I'd also say we are each other's big pair of knickers. We've got our asses covered. Jean Kittson: Mm-hmm. That's right. I can always, I mean, Kathy's the best friend you could possibly have. And don’t we all need… Kathy Lette: …Ditto. Jane Curry: …Don’t we all need female friendships, they keep us all going. Jean Kittson: You, Kathy. Kathy Lette: Yes. Jean Kittson: On a more serious note about, you have covered, you have written about all aspects of life from puberty to marriage, childbirth, menopause. Often based on your own experiences, you've inspired and entertained and soothed millions of readers, including your latest book, the Sisterhood Rules, which I absolutely love and should be a manual for any woman breaking up or any older woman wanting a bit of spice in her life, really. Kathy Lette: Haha, great, ha ha. Jean Kittson: But, um, when your previous publishers said to you. That nobody wants to read about middle-aged women. And they dropped you after 19 books in 17 languages. Kathy Lette: Yes. Jean Kittson: Bestsellers. Kathy Lette: Mm-hmm. Jean Kittson: And you went on to write the Revenge Club, another bestseller. I mean, how did you do that? Kathy Lette: I went to see my agent and said, I wanna write a book about four middle-aged women who take revenge on the men who've sidelined them and ruined their careers. And he was like, yeah, I dunno. Yeah, middle-aged women just aren't that sexy. And then I went to see my publisher at the time and my publisher was like, Hmm, middle-aged women. We know they exist, but nobody wants to go there. Jane Curry: Oh my goodness. Kathy Lette: And I looked at books written about women my age, like Anita Brooklyn novels, for example. And there was about sad, depressed, lonely women who wilt away and die in their flats and get eaten by their cats. Now I don't know any women like that. All my women friends are like Jean. They're swinging off a chandelier with a cocktail between their teeth. But when they, when they first said that to me, then my publisher dropped me. I thought, gosh, maybe I have passed my amuse-by date. And just for a moment, I did, I did have a real crisis of confidence. But then of course I'm an Aussie girl and we, Aussie girls are made of stern stuff Jane Curry: Dig deep. Kathy Lette: So I thought, nah, he's wrong. They're both wrong. So I got a new, I got a gay agent and I got a new publisher, Bloomsbury, and the book went to number-one on the bestseller list, which was the best revenge. It's called the Revenge Club – success! So yeah, it was so exciting. And also, I love writing about women this age because our hinterland is huge. You know, we've had the marriages, the divorces, the breakups, the promotions, the back stabs. We've raised the kids. We've looked after our aged parents as Jean did so, so devotedly. We've got so much to talk about and so much to share, and so much wisdom. Just at the time, society hands us the old invisibility cloak and puts us out to career pasture. It's not just me imagining that we, women my age, are given the cloak of invisibility. A few years ago, MI5 said they wanted to hire middle-aged women as spies because nobody sees us. Jean Kittson: Oh. Kathy Lette: Soak that up. And I remember the governor of the board of the Bank of England. He said, not long ago, that the economy was going through a menopausal phase. Sluggish. Jean Kittson: Oh. Kathy Lette: And I was like, tell that to Oprah Winfrey and Nicole Kidman, and Cate Blanchett… Jane Curry: Michelle Obama… Kathy Lette: …all the other people. Michelle Obama, all these other menopausal and postmenopausal women. So the sexism is sewn into our psyche. We really have to fight hard against that. And thanks to Jean and others of our generation. We've taken the stigma out of menopause. But the next big feminist hurdle for us is sexist ageism, because we get treated in a different way to men our age and, and we really have to rail against it. Because we're now prime, we're in the peak of our productivity. Jane Curry: But also we've all had to witness when the BAFTAs was on, every time we see these women who are completely transformed because they're not allowed to age in public. Kathy Lette: Mm. Jane Curry: So that's the standard. Yes. I mean, we are fortunate in where we're in the book business, so it's brain first in our business and always has been. Kathy Lette: Better to be witty than pretty. Jane Curry: Yeah, yeah – witty than pretty. And I remember a friend of mine who is actually a cosmetic surgeon, he said to me that it, you know, it's the women who are, have always been beautiful, that have had that sense of power when they walk into a room and they turn heads because of their beauty, they're the ones that find it harder to age. Kathy Lette: Well, it's a diminishing asset. Jane Curry: Yes. So whereas, you know, when you're in the book business as I've been, and Kathy, the entertainment book, um, you know, women of letters, we do have that our brain is our superpower. Kathy Lette: Yeah, yeah. Jane Curry: And then what we look like comes after that. Yes. Jean Kittson: It's hard to fight it though, isn't it? Kathy Lette: It is hard to fight it, Jean Kittson: …especially when you are performing and… Jane Curry: Oh yes. Well, in this new job I've just got, I got tapped on the shoulder to run Simon Schuster. So the first thing I found was all the, the settings on Zoom and teams. Because I’m reporting to the UK and I'm having meetings in the US all the time and sometimes I first thing in the morning, like 7.30 in the morning. So I'm like, where's the filter. Jean Kittson: Where’s the sparkle wand! Jane Curry: You know, we used to laugh when I worked at Macmillan. You know, we used, you know, there's fabulous filters that Jackie Collins had on all their photographs. Kathy Lette: Oh my gosh, yes. In fact, I've had lunch with Jackie Collins a few times with Joan Collins. Joan and Jackie, I mean, the double whammy. Jean Kittson: Yes. Jane Curry: Talk about sisterhood. Kathy Lette: Sensational broads. But, um, Joan Collins will move everybody around the table till she's got the right lighting. And isn't she clever? You know that when you do, when you're filming, they have that big silver thing that reflects the [light], why can't we have a dress made out of that? Jean Kittson: Well, why can't we! Kathy Lette: Or shoes? Jean Kittson: Because we don't care, Kathy. We don't care. Kathy Lette: We don't care. Jane Curry: Often we’re rushing from one thing to the next. Kathy Lette: Don't care. We don't care. But Jean, see, Jean and I don't do, don’t do any of that Botoxing stuff. Jane Curry: No. Nor do I. Kathy Lette: I think men should just read between my lines, the books, the babies, the hours of fun-loving flirtation. But it does get hard to resist it whenever all the other women… Jane Curry: …I think that's the thing when… Kathy Lette: …look much younger Jane Curry: that, right, what they call in the, you know, in data they call it benchmarking. So like any set of data figures in my world, you know, you benchmark against what was the bestseller. And so it's sort of benchmarking when you're talking about sales and all of that. But it's benchmarking with what we look like. So you sort of benchmark against, we, I think we're very critical of ourselves, because you look at another woman who's the same age and they've had the facelift and they've had everything done. And then look, I momentarily worry about it. And then honestly, you, I look at my to-do list and I think, no. Jean Kittson: Yeah, and I've got two daughters, so I don't want to be that role model. I've always said it's not what you look like, it's what you feel like, you know? Kathy Lette: Yes. Keep the lights low. Greatest beauty aid known to woman for all time. You know, what's happened in Hollywood, the pediatric, um, technicians there. The doctors noticed that the babies were not hitting their developmental milestones. And they were saying, is it because they're, they're having too much, um, carcinogens in their smoked salmon? I'm thinking, no, it's Botox. Because babies look at your face, like when you go, I love your little baby. The baby goes and you go, ah… If you've had Botox and you're going, ‘I love you’, and the baby's going, ‘uh’, you’re going, ‘uh’. They're not learning anything. Jean Kittson: Absolutely. Jean Kittson: You should write a research paper on that. They should do it. Kathy Lette: This is hysterical, isn't it? I know. Jean Kittson: I was told not to go, I mean. Not to go grey because I wouldn't, in the gig economy, I wouldn't get work. Apparently the research shows that if you, that men don't like actually working with women with grey hair. Kathy Lette: …Because it reminds them of their mothers, is it? Jean Kittson: …Maybe they feel that they… Kathy Lette: …it's ageing them… Jean Kittson: Have to defer or - No, not defer… Kathy Lette: …but they can have grey hair. Jean Kittson: They can have grey hair. So there are some interesting facts their. Kathy Lette: I was gonna say, part of the problem is that we never see women who look like us. 85% of people on British and Australian television over 50 are men. So the women just get immediately sidelined and put out to career pasture when they get one grey hair and one wrinkle. We should be saying, we wanna see ourselves reflected. Don't, don't disappear us. Jean Kittson: You know, Jane, you would see, um, this in the industry. You've seen this before. What happened to Kathy? Have you? Jane Curry: Oh, yes, because a lot of decisions are made on data. You know, they'll say, oh, and particularly I think people got very frightened when social media arrived. They got very frightened that they had to chase people with massive Instagram following. Oh, yes. And then there was this sort of Sally Rooney phenomena where everybody wanted a ‘Normal People’. And that was that emerging, you know, Kathy Lette: Irish writers… Jane Curry: …Irish and, and all that sort of coming of age story that, and we are, we are just, we move as a pack, the publishing industry. So once there's one Normal People, you can guarantee the next year there'll be 10 Normal People. And that's a book for people that haven't read it, that was published by Sally Rooney. It was a debut novel and you know, it was one of the zeitgeist novels. Kathy Lette: She became a publishing phenomenon. Jean Kittson: In terms of ageism in comedy, it's just a general feeling that I think women, first of all, women in comedy has been really hard from the start and you really have to push and it's a much more sort of natural environment for men because they're confident and some, some comedians can go on and and not even have thought about what they're going to say, they're just so confident. Kathy Lette: Yeah. Jean Kittson: When I was starting out in comedy, I would be starting out with other, the few women that were around in the 80s and we'd be in pubs and we'd go on stage and everyone would be drinking and eating their pizza, and no one would listen and the women would come off and going, oh my God, I'm just not funny. I haven't got good material. I stink. I can't do this. The men would go out there and they would get exactly the same reaction. People are just drinking and they'd come back and they'd go, that audience wouldn't know a joke if it was up them. They're just so freaking hopeless, and they'd just blame the audience and women would blame themselves, and I don't know where that comes from, but I think it can become more pronounced as you get older and there's slowly, more and more diminishing things that happen to you Like walking into a butcher and the butcher saying, hello, young lady, and you think I'm too, I'm too young to be called a young lady. You know, I not old enough. That's something that they would say to your grandmother, Hello, young lady, and expect you to like that. Expect it to be a compli–– Jane Curry: …A pat on the head. Jean Kittson: …Yeah, a pat. It's so patronising. Kathy Lette: Yeah. There's also this, it's an inbuilt prejudice against women that were not funny, and I, I was at a dinner party in London once and, and the hostess made a really good joke and the husband and men didn't pay any attention. The husband just went, oh, you know, embarrassing women can't tell jokes. And I was like, that's because we marry them. It made everybody laugh at him and that did take away his power. So just lean into that, that verbal ability that women have, you know, we’re more verbally dexterous. So use it like, develop what I call the black belt and tongue-fu! Quiplash, you know! Jean Kittson: Yeah, that's fantastic. Don't censor. Good comeback. Kathy Lette: Yes. Yeah. Good comeback. Jean Kittson: I know, I think we are getting stronger and we shouldn't, we shouldn't, um, suppress our strength as we probably have to keep peace, you know, with the family. That's right. With our work to balance everything. Yeah. You suppress a lot of who you are. Jane Curry: My eldest always says to me. Mum, you're overthinking. And that's the best mental health advice or whatever we do. We do overthink, Kathy Lette: But I think women should just or never go… You're underdressed if you go out at night without a couple of good one-liners tucked up your trouser leg. Jane Curry: That's really good advice. Kathy Lette: Because if, if you whack it back… Jane Curry: yes, Kathy Lette: …and make other people laugh at them, you completely take away their power. Jean Kittson: Well, you've got so many good one-liners, so you're like a one-liner factory. Jane Curry: I've got, I've gotta lift my game. Jean Kittson: Ah, yeah, exactly. So do I. So when your publishers said that ridiculous thing that nobody wants to read about middle aged women… Kathy Lette: …mm-hmm… Jean Kittson: Did you ever doubt yourself and think that I might have to reinvent myself in any way? Kathy Lette: I did. I, just for a moment, I lost confidence and I thought maybe I have passed my amuse-by-date. But then I looked around at my own female friends and I thought, they're so wonderful. They're all, you know, swinging off a chandelier with a toyboy between their teeth. I wanna write about these women. But I think as a writer, I'm always reinventing because I cannibalise my own life. My mother's a teacher and I think I've got a bit of her teacher gene that I always write the book I wish I'd had when I was going through something. So from, to the girls in Puberty Blues, you know, to teach them that they were more than a life support system to, to a pair of breasts, you know, to girls dating and, and then to motherhood and, and marriage and divorce and menopause, and raising an autistic child, raising a teenager, you know, now this post-menopausal second act. So I'm always reinventing because I'm, I'm changing. You know, women are used to change. We've got so much change going on in our lives. So, yeah, I think it comes naturally to women. So if you are reinventing yourself post menopause, you know, it's just, it's almost like situation normal. We're always constantly changing. And even divorce, I don't see divorce as a failure. I just see it as a change. Jean Kittson: Yes. Kathy Lette: You know, life is long from honeymoon to tomb to be like 80 years so, just if you need to reinvent, you know it's okay, and it comes more naturally to women. So don't be afraid of change. Change is good. But I would say women this age, this is a coming of age time. Jane Curry: Yes. Kathy Lette: Because we're the first generation who are economically independent. We've got the, the rock of fuel of HRT, we've got the chutzpah and the the courage to say what we are thinking. We are reinventing ourselves, having a sensational second act. Because I always say this time of your life, for women, is the best because post menopause, you know, you've, you've got no, you don't have to worry about period cramps or pregnancy scares. You've got all that tampon money to spend, you know… Jean Kittson: …and kids are grown up. You've got all that crystallised experience, as they call it. Kathy Lette: Yeah. I wanna know what you think of this, Jane. Because I accidentally invented – I hate the term – chick lit… Jane Curry: …I know what you're going to say… Kathy Lette: …I accidentally invented it in the 70s with Puberty Blues.. Jane Curry: Yes. Yes. Chook-lit. Kathy Lette: And then, then when I wrote Mad Cows and Fetal Attraction, I sort of invented Mummy-Lit. Jane Curry: Mm-hmm. Kathy Lette: And then when I wrote Nip and Tuck, that was nip-lit. And I'm like, I need a new genre for women our age. And I, and I thought, well, post 50, you get that fabulous, ‘Oh, feck it I'm 50’ gene, where you no longer care what people think about you. So I was thinking. What about, I-don't-give-a-s***-lit? Mm-hmm. Jane Curry: That's brilliant. Jean Kittson: Oh, good. You got the tick from a publisher! Kathy Lette: Wouldn't that be a good. And imagine we’re at Booker Prize and they go, ‘And now in the genre of I-don't-give-a -s***-lit. Yeah. Jane Curry: You know, in Hollywood, all the entertainment [industry] is catching. If you think of the Thursday murder club, that was Richard Osmond, of course, he's an older man, so he can get away with it. But you know, the adaptation with Helen Mirren and you know, those amazing actors. So Kathy Lette: Yes Jane Curry: So there is starting to be balanced… Kathy Lette: But that's even older. That's, that's when they're in the retirement home. I'm talking about this moment. Yeah, just postmenopausal, where we're the publishers are saying it's not sexy, it's not attractive. It's right when you're older, for some reason there's a jump to the Judi Dench. Jane Curry: It’s called the silver dollar then. Kathy Lette: Yeah. Jean Kittson: Oh yes. The silver dollar. Kathy Lette: Well, what about the postmenopausal dollar? Yes. You know who thinks reading books? It's women our age. Jane Curry: Well, actually, I always say to any publisher, go to a writer's festival. It's all women, of a certain age. Our age Jean Kittson: Over 50. Jane Curry: Over 50. Yeah, filling the audience. Jean Kittson: Yes, Kathy Lette: I'm on book tour right now for the sisterhood rules and I'm going around the country. It's been to Perth. I've been doing them in Sydney and Melbourne, and I'm about to go up, up to Queensland and I meet, I get to meet the readers, which is so fabulous. It's my favorite thing. Wonderful. And they're, they're women of a certain age. They bring me up little, little kind of anecdotal, doggy bags, a little story they've saved up for me about who their husband had an affair with or how they got revenge or whatever it is. And they're so funny and they sometimes they cry as well. Yeah. They'll have a cry and they'll tell me something very personal that's happened to them. And we have a hug and they're all so interesting. I wanna go out on a girl's night out with all of them all the time. Jane Curry: Yes, we be… Kathy Lette: …and yet they're written off. Jane Curry: Yeah, I was thinking a lot about it getting ready this morning and yeah, as, as you get older, you look back at how society's structured and it is so sort of primally structured around power and money and… Kathy Lette: …which has predominantly been male… Jane Curry: …which is predominantly male. So I've, so then I thought, so you've got, as a woman, you've got two ways of doing that. You can either become, marry into that and become the trophy wife and be terrified that they're going to leave you. So there's that way of attaching yourself to money or there's the other way of doing it, which is the way I did it, was to make it yourself. Kathy Lette: Yes, exactly. So always a better option. Jane Curry: So that was my option. So that's why I've sort of admired those other women from afar because I've never been part of their world. Even at university, I was never part of that world. I, we as, women, have to decide very early on, I think it's innate, I don’t know whether you make an actual decision, how you're gonna fit around that, those two binaries, power and money. But as women. It's not naturally given to us. So we have to decide. Even in the corporate world, that means we've got to constantly keep up with that. Kathy Lette: …Appearances. Jane Curry: …Appearances or… Kathy Lette: …Trophy mustn't be tarnished. Jean Kittson: Well, that's right. That's right. It's a big role to fill for the whole of your life. Trying to live up to that. Yeah. Sorry. There was a billboard saying, um, many years ago, which was a brilliant billboard saying, which I had a picture of a young woman, don't marry a millionaire. Become a millionaire. Kathy Lette: But when I, when I give talks in schools to girls, which I do often, I always say to them, choose your partner carefully. Because if you wanna be an alpha, alpha female in having a big career, if you choose an alpha man, guess who's gonna be the one who has to pull back when the child's sick or whatever. But if you choose a beta male, someone who'll adore you, not bore you and do all your chores for you, who wants to put you on a pedestal and will probably polish it while you're up there. You know, you've gotta have a much bigger and better and more satisfying career. So just, I've, I've been married to two Alphas whom I adore, but I've, I've now gotta beta boyfriend and beta’s, beta’s better. You know, like my fa— The women who are very successful in British television, for example, Sandy Toksvig, Sue Perkins, Claire Balding, are all gay. What do they have wives? Yeah, wives, and I've kind of got a male wife now and it, and it's fabulous. I highly recommend it. Jean Kittson: That's a really good, Jane Curry: That's funny because Kathy's just in from Perth. I'm just in from Brisbane. My overnight bike from Brisbane is just on the floor of my bedroom, just and so yeah, that's, we don't have wives. Kathy Lette: No, that's what need Jane Curry: We need, we need the backup. Jean Kittson: Yes. So what would you say to people or at who are already over 50 and who are confronting this ageism? I mean, how do, how do they manage it? What should, because the confidence… I'll tell you a quick story. A friend of mine's a teacher and she retired. She was a brilliant teacher, still is. She was doing some casual work and she, uh, went to the person organising the casual work at the, at the secondary college. She'd been working. At for 20 years and said, I'm really liking the casual work. You know, any casual work you can throw my way, that'd be good because I'm finding it hard to live on the pension. And he said, ‘Ah, I don't know. There's a lot of younger casual teachers around and they've got more longevity and productivity than you have.’ You don't need productivity and longevity to be a good teacher. Kathy Lette: No. Jean Kittson: For a developing mind. Kathy Lette: She needs to teach him that lesson. I hope she got up on the table and tap danced. Jean Kittson: You used to say, Kathy, in television, it doesn't matter what you, um, uh, what age you are, as long as it, you don't look at, that's what the producers used to say. Kathy Lette: Oh, yes. They're saying you've passed your use by date. Well, guess what? Tesco, a big supermarket chain in Britain, just took use-by dates off the food, because they said, make up your own mind. And I think the same should be done for women. Jean Kittson: Exactly. Kathy Lette: Take our use-by date off, judge us on our performance and our enthusiasm and our flexibility and our knowledge and our… Jean Kittson: Exactly. Kathy Lette: …sense of humor. And we're, we're individuals. You know,. what you have to do to survive the second act is go a lot of girls' nights out, a lot of laughter and, and sisterly camaraderie and um, strength in numbers, you know, and just boost each other up, give each other work. Like really put the, put your hand down and, and pull women up behind you. Jane Curry: Yeah. Kathy Lette: But in this, in the Sisterhood Rules, I've put lots of rules in the beginning about sisterly solidarity, like love and loyalty and sticking to each other like a nylon dress in a heat wave. And it also encouraging women to think big, like don't tell men you want their seats on the bus. You want their seats on the board. Like, think big. We're too, we don't have big enough ambitions for ourselves. Husbands come and go, but um, the sisterhood lasts forever. That's the most important rule I will share with you. Jean Kittson: I agree totally. It's really important to have people you can ring up when you're feeling really down and just have a chat with them and then they lift you up and that's so important. And I, I wonder if you'd want to talk about when you gave up publishing — I mean, when you left your job and opened your own publishing company, did you have a mentor then or, well, who was supporting you? Jane Curry: Amazing timing to ask me that. because I'm just about to go to the London book Fair and I got my first job in publishing in London and my boss, who must be now in her eighties, is still an absolute mover and shaker. Kathy Lette: What's her name? Jane Curry: Kit Van Tulleken. She's the mother of the Van Tulleken twins. Kathy Lette: Great name. Jane Curry: The Van Tulleken twins. Who are those… They're doctors that sell millions of copies of their books. Twins, identical twins. Jean Kittson: Oh, you've written about twins. Kathy Lette: Yeah. Jane Curry: Yeah. So they, she had the corner office when I was literally sitting in a corridor at about age 22 or 23, and there she was in the corner office and her two boys would come in after school. And I just looked up and thought she was my absolute role model. Kathy Lette: Oh, great. Jane Curry: And I'm seeing her in the London book fair. Kathy Lette: Nice. Jane Curry: And then I think it's important for other women who are, you know, working. I have a coach, I have a business coach, so I see her once a month and she sorts my head out – not a psychologist, but business wise. So where we have our natural weaknesses and we, you know, she'll always say you've – she's the ones that send, sends me those texts when I'm saying, I've got this difficult discussion, or I, you know, or different, you know, different emotions that you're taking to meetings just to take the emotion out of it and rely on the business. So I think that's important for people as who are working, because we are older, so we do have the capacity to sort of resource ourselves. So rather than have a cleaner, I'd rather have a business coach. Jean Kittson: Yeah. Oh, absolutely. That's such a good… Kathy Lette: …To clean out your, your, your brain. Yes. We do a lot of mentoring in England to younger women through the Women of the World Festival. We mentor young girls at school. We go in the wheel, we go, you know, the, you know the millennial wheel? Jane Curry: Oh yes. Kathy Lette: And we're in different pods and we go around in a pod with a group of girls, and then the next time we get off and get in another pod. So it's, we make it fun, but it's also very helpful for them And it's good for me. I learn a lot from them as well. Jane Curry: Yeah. One of the things I've learned going back into corporate after about 10 years of running my own business is, you know, the young women that we employ, you know how they're much more in their power than I ever was at that age. Jean Kittson: Oh, definitely. Jane Curry: When I was getting divorced, my lawyer turned around and said, are you okay? And I said, yes. I think looking at the kangaroo and the emu on the coat of arms thinking, how on earth did I end up here? Um, but then I said afterwards, I said, how do you do that every day? And he said, take the emotion. There's no emotion in it for me, Jane. I take the emotion out of it. And I've always remembered that advice. So take the emotion out of things. Even the most difficult business transaction, you know, when you've, particularly in publishing, you're dealing with creative people, you know, but take the emotion out of it. Look at the bare bones of the business transaction. Put the emotion in at the beginning and the end. But when it comes to actually achieving an outcome that is to the satisfaction of both parties, take the emotion out of it. So, channeling my divorce lawyer! Kathy Lette: When I got divorced, I remember saying – I knew they charged by the hour – so I used to go in and say, no adjectives, no adverbs, no anecdotes. Just get straight to the facts! But getting back to the mental thing, I just like to say that I, I do wanna encourage all women to always help other women. And when I published, when I wrote Puberty Blues as a teenager, that was rejected by about 10 publishers. Then I saw Anne Summers had written a piece in the paper about, um, gang rapes in Queensland or something. I thought she'll get this surfy brutality that goes on, and I sent her some of the manuscript and she sent it to a small feminist publishing group called McPhee Gribble in Melbourne. And the rest is history. So that was an absolute perfect example of the sisterhood supporting each other. Jean Kittson: And getting it, understanding each other. Kathy Lette: Understanding each other. That's right. Jean Kittson: And what they're going through and the importance of talking about it. Kathy Lette: We just need more women in power. Why can't, why can't women just run the world just for a year? We say to the men, go play golf. Do whatever you like. Just go for a year, just let us take over. We can't do a worse job than you've done and see what we could achieve. Jane Curry: Well, fortunately COVID has given us flexible work conditions. We couldn't get it beforehand, but most of my staff now, we've got nearly a hundred people and it's fantastic. So we've got lots of young mothers on the payroll. Jean Kittson: Oh that's great Jane Curry: And they work, you know, it's great. I've re and I think it took COVID to allow the bosses… Kathy Lette: Yes. Jane Curry: …the patriarchy, to see that working from home is, it can work. Kathy Lette: Because that's another big sexist trope. You know, that society expects women to raise children as though we don't work as well. Jane Curry: That's why I started my own business. Yes. Because when I told my boss I was expecting. The very first thing he said to me was, well, you can't work part-time. That's what he said to me. And I was the managing director at the time, and I actually miscarried that baby. So it gave me a little window to get out from under. So that's when I went to Macmillan because Ross Gibb, who's just retired from publishing, he said over lunch at Machiavelli's – because publishing still has a few lunches – I told him the story and he said, Jane, you can work part-time for me. He's lovely any day. Kathy Lette: He lovely. He was my publisher for a while. Jane Curry: So that's why I went to Macmillan. Because people say, why did you go from being a managing director to being a publisher? And I did that because Ross said, you can work for me any day. He saw the value of female talent. Kathy Lette: Yeah. Yes. Jane Curry: So I had a fantastic year, few years. What about seven years at Macmillan whilst I had my two boys. I'm like, Kathy Lette: See, revenge, revenge! Fabulous. I think the reason women are drawn, I've them… Jean Kittson: …outlive them! Kathy Lette: I think the reason women are drawn to revenge is it's sweet, but totally non fattening – fabulous. Jane Curry: It is, it is. So Ross Gibbs – we do have our allies. Kathy Lette: We do, we do. And it's been important to say that… Jane Curry: …yes… Kathy Lette: …that of course there are great men who do support us and want the best for us. But we need more, we need more men, at the barricades. I've been saying the same feminist things – Jean and I have been saying the same thing through our comedy since we were teenagers, and we still don’t have equal pay. So we need men to get on the barricades with us and say, enough, you know, we, we need equality, we need it now. And I often say, some men challenge me when I'm on tour and they'll say, you know, you feminists are asking for too much. And I'm like, are we, are we really asking for too much equal pay? We'd like men to help us more around the house, which is in their interest. Is it scientifically proven? No woman ever shot a husband while he's vacuuming. We'd like them to do the odd sensitive thing with snow peas in the kitchen, because the weight to a woman's heart through her stomach. Not aiming too high. Jane Curry: Because I've got boys who are now in their 20s, so I've looked at it through that, you know, men's mental health, they don't want to always be the strong and the tough ones. Kathy Lette: No. Feminism works for men as well. Jane Curry: Yes. That's the thing. Exactly. They're allowed to have emotions… Kathy Lette: …and not have the pressure to be the breadwinner and all of that. Jane Curry: Yeah. So I see it, you know, having raised boys as a feminist, you know, to make sure that we can have open discussions. And, yeah, I'd like to think that they're well on the way to being good allies. But yeah, it is a brutal world out there. So I just think we do have to look out for each other and I'm really thrilled to be working with young women, again. Jean Kittson: To sum up this fantastic conversation, which could go on for hours, um, how would you, uh, what is the main message you like to say to people over 50 who are confronted by ageism or sexism, and how do they find it in them, the courage to stop that voice going, maybe I am too old. Kathy Lette: Well, I would say carpe diem, like there's no tomorrow. You know, tempus is fugiting – if not now, when, and you know. One of my mottoes is adventure before dementia. Not that I'm making light of that terrible disease, but you never know what's around the corner. So there's no time to waste. Be… have as much fun and frivolity. Be as outrageous as you can possibly be because you know, this is your last big hurrah. You know… Jean Kittson: Be assertive now! Kathy Lette: Yes, don't have any qualms. Just, you know, tap dance on that tabletop. Jane Curry: When I've had moments of self-doubt, I get moving. Not necessarily tap dancing, but get active, lift weights, go to the gym, run, walk the dog – dark clouds, gather. That's what I'd say if I was in that frame of mind and wondering how the world was going to greet me, I'd take the world on and get active, get those endorphins flowing. Because then you feel so much better. Kathy Lette: And also lean into the sisterly comradery. Jane Curry: Yes. Kathy Lette: Go out with your girlfriend as often. Which Jean and I do. Jean Kittson: Yes. Find beautiful women like yourselves and ring them up or have a glass of champagne. Kathy Lette: Yes. The human wonder bras uplifting, supportive, and make each other look bigger and better. Which is what Jean has done for us today. Thank you. Jean Kittson: Oh no, you two have, you've both been fantastic been great fun. Thank you so much. What a great conversation. Kathy Lette: Thank you Jean. Jean Kittson: Thanks. Kathy Lette: Sisterhood rules. ALL: Sisterhood Rules! Jean Kittson: Thank you to Kathy Lette and Jane Curry. You've been listening to DARE: The Time of Your Life, brought to you by Australian seniors. Please leave a review and share this show with someone you know. Visit seniors.com au/podcast for more episodes. I’m Jean Kittson. Thank you. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Backing for secular well-being officers on WA schools, in an effort to cease funding religious chaplain programs. After 15 months of negotiations and no pay offer - Victorian early educators start industrial action. Dr Anne Summers urges NSWTF Women's Conference to continue fighting to protect and advance women's rights. Why teachers are leaving the profession - and it's not about the money. UK- taking religious misogyny seriously in education. US- Why America still needs public schools. Inside Australia's School of the YearGreat State School of the Week- Hunter Sports Highwww.adogs.info

Anne Summers’s Damned Whores and God’s Police was first published 50 years ago – a time when sexual harassment, domestic violence and date rape were unnamed and often ignored experiences for women in Australia. It would be another nine years before the introduction of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984. Hear Anne as the bestselling and multi-award-winning writer and journalist – also an Officer of the Order of Australia and inductee to the Australian Media Hall of Fame – reflect on her groundbreaking book, what she has done since and what she is doing now with host Zora Simic. This event was presented by the Sydney Writers' Festival and supported by UNSW Sydney.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is caring about too many things a legitimate risk to your professional success? Or does it speak to a drive that will keep you engaged throughout your career? Dr Anne Summers is a celebrated author, journalist and feminist leader. She played a pivotal role in the women’s movement, co-founding Australia’s first women’s refuge, Elsie, in the 1970s. She’s advised two Prime Ministers, and has written nine books to date. Dr Summers joins Helen McCabe to reflect on what continues to fuel her, as a woman who’s been told she’s “too driven” time and time again. Liked this episode? Follow Too Much to hear more Become an FW member to join the movement and fast-track your professional development. Keep up with @futurewomen on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Threads See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this podcast, we're joined by Dr Anne Summers, a longtime writer and advocate on women's issues to discuss the horrific number of women murdered this year.   

How far have we come in achieving gender equality? Anne Summers AO a feminist icon, journalist and academic. In this keynote address recorded live at the FW Leadership Summit, Anne reflects on her journey as a pioneering leader in the women's liberation movement since the 1970s. Discover Anne's Four Principles for Women's Equality and gain profound insights into the ongoing struggles and triumphs of the fight for gender equality.  If you or someone you know is experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, domestic, family or sexual violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732, text 0458 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au for online chat and video call services.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There is excitement in starting over! Epigenetics Energy Healer & Life Coach, Molly Anne shares the joy in her journey and the importance of re-discovering your self. You are more than what you did, you have a purpose. Take your knowledge, experience, and gifts and pay them forward. It is important to have a sense of direction, to determine what matters and how to implement that going forward. On a completely different level, starting over means looking at our DNA. We can't eliminate the past, but we can understand why we do what we do by looking at generational triggers from a genetic perspective. It's the programming that has been running the game, however, when we have clarity, we can course correct. Be the beacon. Weather the storms. Shine brighter.Molly Anne's Favourite Album: Greatest Hits by Josh Groban especially “You Are Loved”Website: https://mollyannefordirectionandhealing.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/molly-anne-summers-b0a530129/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mollyanne.summersInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/directionandhealing/Contact: summersfordirection@gmail.comKey words:s

Dr Anne Summers is one of Australia's greatest contributors to the feminist movement. She is a writer, speaker and author, who was editor of the American publication Ms magazine in the 1980s and editor of the Good Weekend here in Australia in the 1990s. In between those roles she advised Prime Ministers Hawke and Keating on women's issues and went on to run the Office for the Status of Women, in Canberra.Her most recent work is about the link between family violence and women's poverty.     To read the full report on The Choice: Violence or Poverty by Anne Summers, click the link here: https://www.violenceorpoverty.com/     In this conversation Jamila Rizvi explores the life of Anne Summers, and the pair dissect the confronting figures on the correlation of violence and poverty experienced by women in Australia.    THE WEEKEND LIST WATCH: Wednesday - Netflix  WATCH: From Lone Wolf to Leader: The Making of Anthony Albanese – The Guardian DO:  Wear sunscreen people! EAT: Gingerbread house recipe – Sally's Baking Addiction     Follow The Briefing: Instagram: @thebriefingpodcast Facebook: TheBriefingNewsAUTwitter: @TheBriefingAUSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey Friends!

Dr Anne Summers AO is a journalist, writer and lifelong women's rights activist. To many she is the ‘godmother of Australian feminism' and founder of the nation's first refuge for women, Elsie. Anne shot to fame back in 1975 with her first book – now a treasured Australian classic - Damned Whores and God's Police, which tore open the deeply entrenched ideology of sexism in Australia. There have been many books since, including; The End of Equality (2003), The Misogyny Factor (2012), The Lost Mother (2009), Ducks on the Pond (1999), and her outstanding Autobiography Unfettered and Alive'(2018), which charts a fascinating pathway through second wave feminism.Dr Summers worked as Bureau Chief for the Australian Financial Review, before becoming political advisor to Prime Minister Bob Hawke, and later Paul Keating, where she became a key ‘femocrat' driving major policy reform that helped expand Australian women's lives and opportunities. She went on to Head the Office of the Status of Women in the Department of the Prime Minister and CabinetDr Summers gained international fame as Editor of Ms Magazine in the USA, after raising $20 million dollars on Wall Street to fund the project. Back in Australia she took on the role as Editor of Good Weekend, and later on the global stage she Chaired Greenpeace International.In July 2022 Anne released a major report, The Choice - Violence or Poverty: Domestic violence and its consequences in Australia today. BroadTalk is produced by Martyn Pearce for BroadTalk Media.Get in the picture with BroadTalk! We're now on Instagram - find us at Broadtalkers. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The tables turn for ABC's 7:30 journalist Laura Tingle, as subject rather than interviewer as she analyses the domestic and political world.Combining political insights with personal observations and anecdotes about the players who hold our fate in their hands, rest assured Laura will not let anyone off lightly.Hosted by Anne Summers, recorded live at the Sydney Opera House for All About Women 2022. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Pressure mounting on the federal government to intervene in the gas market and curb soaring power bills. What is driving the energy crisis?; A record number of women appointed to Federal Labor's cabinet. You'll hear from author, journalist and former head of the Office of the Status of Women, Dr Anne Summers ; And coal vs koalas. Conservationists fight to protect a koala habitat.

Episode 78 Dr Anne Summers AODr Anne Summers AO is a pioneering Australian feminist, a best-selling author and journalist with a long career in politics, the media, business and the non-government sector in Australia, Europe, and the United States.  It would not be a stretch to say her first book, published in 1975,Damned Whores and God's Police, changed the way Australia viewed women.  Her career is almost the ultimate example of taking opportunities as they present themselves, even if they're outside your comfort zone. Consider a few things she undertook with little or no previous experience....moving to Canberra to become bureau chief for the Australian Financial Review, working in politics as an adviser to Prime Minister Bob Hawke and later Prime Minister Paul Keating. Moving to New York to become editor in chief of the iconic feminist magazine Ms. And, when a young Warwick Fairfax decided the magazine businesses of his media empire should be sold, Anne with her business partner, undertook for only the second time in U.S. corporate history, an all-female management buyout of the magazine. And then there's the first ever post prime ministerial interview with Julia Gillard - at a sold out Opera House in Sydney if you don't mind. The rock star reception for both Anne and Julia on the night was not only unforeseen but unprecedented for a political interview.  And there's more to come in her career.  Indefatigable, unrelenting, dogged, outspoken, fearless and driven by injustice (it seems to me anyway)...with a wicked sense of humour. It was a fabulous opportunity for me to have this conversation with Anne Summers. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.    Her books, Damned Whores and God's Police and her memoir, Unfettered and Alive are available at Booktopia.com.au  

This week's podcast kicks off with the market report for the week beginning 21st February 2022, where Andrew gives you a rundown of the latest from the grain trade.In Farmchat this week, the guys speak about carbon credits and how this affects the market. They talk about how they wish they could partner up with Anne Summers, of all businesses!Other topics include McDonalds, Russia & Ukraine and of course Boris had to make another appearance. The four also try some Vegan Beer!As always, thanks to our listeners, old and new, and remember to keep in touch – we are @dewinggrain on Twitter. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Everyone needs more Arnie in their lives, so this week we took a dive into the Arnold Schwarzenegger buddy cop/school comedy Kindergarten Cop! But obviously we couldn't just stick to that, so we also dabbled in moaning about work, haunted castles, the new TUTJIG Facebook Group, dead drug dealers, Bad Dragon hosting Anne Summers style parties, pre-loved sex dolls, and selling Rooney's bath water! We also beg for someone to run our social media accounts, and discuss our first user-submitted content articel: Pennywise/Mary Poppins!

The boys continue their Spooky Month run of zombie films with Romero's 70's classic Dawn of the Dead - despite them feeling pretty zombie-like themselves. Reggie regales us all with talk of witches and yet more ghost sex (after a healthy dose of apologies), they chat about rednecks, shopping, special effects, and reveal that in an apocalypse, Rooney would rather loot a Games Workshop than an Anne Summers....

This week Steve picked a set of songs from dog and "kat" artists.  Artists this week: WILLOW, Dead Poet Society, Black Kids, The Troggs, The Shivvers, The Charlatans, Dogs, Bobkat'65, Dogs Die In Hot Cars, Kat Von D, The Dollyrots, Anne Summers, Illuminati Hotties, Modest Mouse, Best Coast, Pavement, Jonathan Richman & Modern Lovers, The Ventures.   On the Air on Bedford 105.1 FM Radio      * 5pm Friday *      * 10am Sunday *      * 8pm Monday * Stream live at http://209.95.50.189:8178/stream Stream on-demand most recent episodes at https://wbnh1051.podbean.com/category/suburban-underground/ Twitter: @SUBedford1051 Facebook: SuburbanUndergroundRadio Instagram: SuburbanUnderground And available on demand on your favorite podcast app!

Alice is an actor, director, writer and workshop facilitator. She is an artistic director of Bric a Brac Theatre, an all female Lecoq trained collective, and co-produces alternative comedy cabaret Piñata. She often writes under the (not so mysterious) pen name ADB.In this episode we discuss BDSM, role-play, submission as a power position, clowning, and Anne Summers parties unleashing your aquatic side at a young age. You can find Alice bringing sunshine to everything she does on:Instagram @alicekdevlinand Twitter @AliceKDevlinSupport the podcast with a one off donation on https://ko-fi.com/helenduff or to get access to all sorts of extra audio / video content become a regular subscriber on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/HelenDuffIntro / Outro music by Luisa Gerstein of Deep Throat Choir; musical interludes written and performed by Helen Duff, arranged by Touch & Compass; edited by Lorna Treen; produced by Helen Duff, Lorna Treen and Daisy Grant. Follow the podcast on Instagram: Instagram: @comeasyouarepod Twitter: @ComeAsYouArePo2 Facebook: @ComeAsYouArePodFind Helen Duff www.helenduff.comInstagram: @DuffMarvelTwitter: @DuffMarvelFacebook: @helenduffcomedyThis podcast would not have been possible without the support and advice of Sam Sapin, Ben Target, Alice Freedman, Hayley Stirling, Catherine Brinkworth and Kate Watson. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is a very timely moment to release this the 35th episode of the podcast as my special guest is Fiona Catchpowle who has just received a “WOW” award from Jaqueline Gold, the founder of Anne Summers for her Menopause Directory. Coming from a 15 year digital marketing background she became known as Cybergran, but after experiencing an “interesting” menopause, Fiona decided to share her story and more recently this has evolved into the creation of a place for women to get help. The Menopause directory has taken off even more since the lockdowns where menopause nurses and other specialists are available for online consultations. KEY TAKEAWAYS· The Directory is designed as a one stop shop for all things menopause.· Aimed at women as young as their late 30's· It's about normalising the conversation· We talk about POST menopause care too and the effect of the flatline of hormones· How HRT has helped us with some most common symptoms that women often just put up with· We both love the science and the biology of hormones · Symptoms are not linear and don't come in any particular order so how do we diagnose the menopause? BEST MOMENTS · “I had been experiencing menopause symptom for 5 years without realising it” · Fiona's daughter was the one that “diagnosed” her mum!· It's about the consequences of the symptoms that matter.· The sooner we pay attention the better· We are Menopause evangelists · One of the cool things about the menopause is developing more spiritual awareness· Treat for menopause first!! · How you can manage the next 40 years with your elasticated waist bands!! · Our legacy to the 30/40 year old women. RESOURCESBook at 45 min appointment – for a smoother faster diagnosis, education and support. https://themenopausedirectory.com and access the ebook here too

This week we have a special interview with Anne Summers on the incoming Joe Biden Administration. Produced and presented by Tina Quinn

In a year like no other, there is an election like no other. Journalist and author Anne Summers takes the temperature of the US as it counts down to voting day.

In a year like no other, there is an election like no other. Journalist and author Anne Summers takes the temperature of the US as it counts down to voting day.

In a year like no other, an election like no other. Anne Summers takes the temperature of the US as it counts down to voting day.

For Spinning Plates this week Sophie is joined by the gentle yet radical businesswoman Jacqueline Gold. Jacqueline is CEO of Anne Summers and she revolutionised the company after introducing the Anne Summers Party concept in the 1980's. She is mother to twins Scarlett and Alfie. Scarlett is now 10 and Alfie sadly died when he was just eight months old. Here she talks proving grey-suited men wrong, quietly changing culture to empower women in the bedroom while all the time striving to be an awesome mum. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On this gourmet Second Serve, we speak with US-based Australian analysts, Anne Summers and Jonathan Swan, about the COVID-19 pandemic in the US and what lies ahead this US election year.Despite a catastrophic COVID-19 death toll, is Trump’s refusal to play ‘mourner-in-chief’ good politics with a presidential election rapidly approaching? How has the president been able to successfully capture the Republican Party while being perhaps the country’s most divisive leader? And is the GOP’s willingness to appeal to their base political suicide, or a ticket to Electoral College success? On this Democracy Sausage Second Serve, Professor Mark Kenny speaks to Jonathan Swan and Anne Summers about the US coronavirus crisis, the upcoming elections, and entrenched politics in a fractured nation.Mark Kenny is a Professor in the ANU Australian Studies Institute. He came to the university after a high-profile journalistic career including six years as chief political correspondent and national affairs editor for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and The Canberra Times.Jonathan Swan is National Political Reporter for Axios, covering Republican leaders in the United States federal government and the White House.Anne Summers AO is an Australian writer and columnist, best known as a leading feminist, editor, and publisher. She was formerly First Assistant Secretary of the Office of the Status of Women in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We’d love to hear your feedback for this podcast series! Send in your questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes to podcast@policyforum.net. You can also Tweet us @APPSPolicyForum or join us on the Facebook group.This podcast is produced in partnership with The Australian National University. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In season one, episode four of the integrative health podcast Word of Mouth, IAOMT’s Executive Chairperson of the Board of Directors, Jack Kall, DMD, FAGD, MIAOMT, interviews Anne Summers, PhD, about her decades of research on mercury, including information about mercury (as from dental amalgam fillings) creating antibiotic multi-resistant bacteria and detoxification.

Librarian Margy Burn shares experiences acquiring rare and unique collections during her career at the National Library and other great Australian research collections. Margy Burn recently retired as the National Library’s Assistant Director-General, Australian Collections & Reader Services. Before joining the National Library, she held senior positions working with Australiana collections at the State Libraries of New South Wales and South Australia. Margy began working with archives and special collections at the University of Adelaide Library. Her first ‘field work’ was a series of visits to Mary Clark, the daughter of Federation advocate Sir Josiah Symon, to sort Mary’s large collection of papers documenting work in England and Australia with touring ballet and theatre companies. The octogenarian Mary told stories of nursery life in an Adelaide hills mansion; served a homemade lunch she had cooked on a wood stove, presented on ceramics made by her friend, the influential British potter Bernard Leach, while her cat Fleance prowled hopefully under the table. Margy was hooked. Since those early days, Margy is proud to have played some role in the acquisition of papers of women including P.L Travers, Eva Cox, Dale Spender, Helen Caldicott, Kay Cottee, Meryl Tankard, Dymphna Clark, Drusilla Modjeska and Anne Summers, to name a few. Margy has been involved with the Australian Women’s Archives Project since its inception nearly 20 years ago. In retirement she is enjoying having time to read many more books. In association with the Australian Women's Archives Project. Image: Margy Burn, image supplied.

Geraldine is home from her fabulous holiday to a busy work schedule and a dose of the flu. This week she talks to Eliza from the ABC studios, where she's just interviewed a German historian about how people dealt with the humiliation of losing the Second World War. Eliza is entertaining her family in Beirut. One of the stops on the trip is the Shatila Palestinian refugee camp. It was the scene of a horrific massacre in 1982 and is now home to thousands of Syrians fleeing war. The women also discuss books: "East West Street"; "Boy Swallows Universe" and "Happiness". Join the conversation at the Facebook page by searching "Long Distance Callers" or email us at ldcpodcast1@gmail.com Thanks for listening! Anne Summers on Jeffrey Epstein – ABC Saturday Extra https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/saturdayextra/the-case-against-jeffrey-epstein/11304922 Promise Me You’ll Shoot Yourself – Florian Huber https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jun/20/promise-me-youll-shoot-yourself-florian-huber-review Shatila Massacre https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/17/opinion/a-preventable-massacre.html Indonesia's killings of 1965 https://www.insideindonesia.org/the-killings-of-1965-66 East West Street – Philippe Sands https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27068666-east-west-street Becoming – Michelle Obama https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Michelle-Obama/dp/1524763136 Happiness – Aminatta Forna https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/apr/03/happiness-aminatta-forna-review

On 11 March 2019 Australian Fabians co-hosted with Emily's List "Anne Summers in conversation with Anne Aly" held at the Perth Town Hall.

My guest today is Jacqueline Gold Jacqueline is one of the UK’s most successful business women as CEO of Anne Summers. Starting at the company at the age of just 19 on an internship she spotted a gap in the market and worked to reinvent the brand and turn Ann Summers into the business it is today. Ann Summers now has 125 stores and over 4000 parties held each week along with a multi million pound turnover. She’s a strong advocate of female empowerment, has set up the WOW incentive on twitter and was awarded a CBE in 2016. Thank you to Penguin Random House for sponsoring this episode and I'm excited to get stuck in to Green by Elly Pear. The link to which is just below: https://amzn.to/2M2p4aY Thank you for listening. Don’t forget you can find me on instagram, www.instagram.com/margienomura. If you haven’t yet left a 5* rating now is your moment! And your good deed for the week could be recommending Desert Island Dishes to your friends and colleagues. I love bringing it to you every week and your reviews really do make the world of difference. Thank you!

Dr Anne Summers AO has had an extraordinary career as a journalist, author, policy maker, bureaucrat, editor, publisher, board member and above all change agent. In conversation with Genevieve Jacobs, she will speak about her life and her new memoir Unfettered and Alive. This is the compelling story of Anne Summers' extraordinary life. Her story has her travelling around the world as she moves from job to job, in newspapers and magazines, advising prime ministers, leading feminist debates, writing memorable and influential books. Anne has not been afraid to walk away from success and to satisfy her constant restlessness by charging down new and risky paths. Whatever position she has held, she has expanded what's possible and helped us see things differently-often at high personal cost. Anne shares revealing stories about the famous and powerful people she has worked with or reported on and is refreshingly frank about her own anxieties and mistakes. She shares a heart-breaking story of family violence and tells of her ultimate reconciliation with the father who had rejected her. Unfettered and Alive is a provocative and inspiring memoir from someone who broke through so many boundaries to show what women can do. Image by Kevin McDermott

This week James and I are joined by comedian Jackson Foshay. Jackson is a US expat and rising star on the Bangkok comedy scene. The episode flew by, which is always a great sign.. we covered so much ground from Jackson's personal story to mid-flight arse-wiping incidents. You can find Jackson here: https://www.facebook.com/jfoshaycomedy and please be sure to check the local listings and catch him for a live show. Join in the conversation with Mickey, Willy & James in the official chatroom: https://thisstrange.life/#discord Email us at thisstrangelifepodcast@gmail.com https://thisstrange.life/#pod twitter.com/strangelifethis www.instagram.com/strangelifethis/ Please remember to subscribe, rate and review to the POD! #Bangkok #comedy #comedian #culture #PC #censorship #annsummers #porn #jimmycarr #freaks #jaymecloss #Thailand #expat #conspiracy #podcastfridays #thisstrangelife #lastpodcastontheleft #thehighersidechats #grimerica #theovon #brendanschaub #conspiracies #crypto #bitcoin #ethereum #ghosts #aliens #joerogan #jre #truecrime #trump #maga #nathanphillips #farangdeaths

7am Acknowledgment of country 7:02am Alternative news: Red Umbrella Day, Commentating on the ALP National Conference of the weekend just gone.7:15am Song Black Eyed Peas “Big Love” Then more Alt News.7:30am Leo Crnogorcevic - Socialist Alliance and Youth Action Climate Coalition on walking out of school and the dinosaurs in Canberra and why they won’t do nothing. 7:50am OTW – Peter Davis reflects on Christmas and the shameful actions of the Catholic Church. 8:00am Zora Simic from the Australian Book Review reviews two news books about legendary and controversial Australian feminists Germaine Greer and Anne Summers. 8:15am Regular legal commentator Lizzie O’Shea joins us to talk about Supression Orders – in the news due to multiple cases currently being heard in Victora.

A podcast extra edition of the Bookshelf in which Cassie talks Sydney Noir with John Dale, Mandy Sayer and Mark Dapin; Kate talks to children's author Sally Rippin about the bookshelf that made her; Minette Walters has plague pits in her backyard, and Anne Summers talks about the writing strategies and impact of the New Journalism

Anne Summers in conversation with Julia Baird about her new book, Unfettered and Alive: A Memoir. Dr Anne Summers AO has been defying expectations her entire life. Her extraordinary career as a journalist, author, policy maker, activist, bureaucrat, board member, editor and publisher, has seen her travel the world, leading feminist debate, advising prime ministers, presiding over Greenpeace International and producing and writing influential journalism and books. She has walked away from success and charged down new paths, to satisfy her restlessness and help herself, and us all, see things differently, and expand what is possible. #FWF18 #fwf18 #annesummers #unfetteredandalive #allenandunwin #feminism #journalism #equality #writing #podcasting #podcasts SHOWNOTES:Writes4Festivals and Writes4WomenWeb -www.writes4women.comFacebook - @writes4womenTwitter / Instagram - @w4wpodcastFeminist Writers FestivalWeb - www.feministwritersfestival.comFacebook / Twitter - @feministwritersfestAnne Summers Web -www.annesummers.com.auFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/annesummersofficial/Twitter - @SummersAnne

Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh talk new books with historian David Hunt and crime writer Aoife Clifford. The books in front of them? Graham Norton's A Keeper, R.O. Kwon's The Incendiaries and Georgina Harding's Land of the Living.

***Please SUBSCRIBE to The Book Pod in your favourite podcast app or via the links below*** Apple Podcasts. https://apple.co/2IshrFo Stream https://bit.ly/2IsBdRb Join Corrie Perkin and Dr Anne Summers for Episode 4. Anne is an author, journalist and activist and she joins Corrie to discuss her newly published memoir 'Unfettered and Alive'. We have several signed copies available at My Bookshop which you can purchase HERE, just use the Promo Code BookPod at the checkout to buy a signed copy (while stocks last). For more details on Anne's books and writing visit her WEBSITE. This episode of The Book Pod is hosted and produced by Corrie Perkin, engineered and edited by Jane Nield for Crocmedia with additional production assistance by Coco Carter. Get in touch via email feedback@thebookpod.com.au. Our first podcast Book Club book is 'Home Fire' by Kamila Shamsie. We'll be discussing the book in November on the show. You can purchase it HERE.  You can email your thoughts on 'Home Fire' to feedback@thebookpod.com.au if you'd like to be part of the discussion - you can even send a brief voice message. Simply record your comments via the voice recorder on your smart phone and email the mp3 file to us.  Check out @thebook_pod on Twitter or follow the show on Instagram.

Feminist and writer Dr Anne Summers joined Amy Mullins to talk about her adventurous life and prolific career, detailed in her new memoir, 'Unfettered and Alive.' They spoke about the women's liberation movement, politics, and the unfinished business of feminism. Broadcast on 6 November, 2018.

Feminist and writer Dr Anne Summers joined presenter Amy Mullins to talk about her adventurous life and prolific career, which is detailed in her new memoirUnfettered and Alive. They spoke aboutthe women's liberation movement, politics, and the unfinished business of feminism

Feminist and writer Dr Anne Summers joined presenter Amy Mullins to talk about her adventurous life and prolific career, which is detailed in her new memoirUnfettered and Alive. They spoke aboutthe women's liberation movement, politics, and the unfinished business of feminism; Dr Jo Birch, Curator of theUniversity of Melbourne Herbariumcame in to talk about the wonder of plants and their newly digitised and freely availableonline collection of specimens. Theirs is the largest university herbarium in Australia with over 150,000 plant specimens. Plus New Matilda's National Affairs Correspondent Ben Eltham on the latest in federal politics.

Anne Summers, who has worn many hats during her career - journalist, editor, activist, senior public servant, and prime ministerial advisor - is concerned about the slow progress in Australia in addressing sexual harassment and assault. “I don’t know what it is that is holding [MeToo] back here,” Summers tells The Conversation. She believes there should be more naming of perpetrators, with the proviso that “obviously it’s got to be justified, obviously you don’t do it rashly and without and very credible evidence”. “I don’t see why you can’t name somebody who has been shown to have abused his position like that,” she said. Summers, who’s long campaigned on the issue of violence against women, declares “a forensic approach is urgent”. “I worry some of the research is not really problem-solving and focusing on how to end violence. It’s seeking more to understand the impact - and I think we already know the impact.”

Anna and Amanda discuss the CWA Dagger Awards, with the Gold Dagger going to The Liar by Steve Cavanagh.  Closer to home, Amanda saw Julia Gillard interview Anne Summers and is inspired to read Unfettered and Alive. Our book of the week is Trick by Domenico Starnone, translated by Jhumpa Lahiri. A duel between an old artist and his grandson plays out in a Naples apartment.  This realist drama by an Italian maestro comes with ghosts and Henry James - what more can we say? Next week, Anna, Amanda and Annie will be reading Bridge of Clay by Marcus Zusak. 

Anne has worked in the midst of power on both sides of the Pacific, as a prominent journalist, policy advisor and magazine editor

In her new memoir Unfettered and Alive, Australian writer, columnist and leading feminist Anne Summers shares revealing stories about the famous people she has worked with or reported on over the years. Booktopia's John sits down to talk with Anne about her extraordinary achievements, the powerful articles she wrote and her experiences as a woman broke through so many boundaries. Books mentioned in this podcast: Unfettered and Alive by Anne Summers —> https://bit.ly/2DWH9mI Damned Whores and God's Police by Anne Summers —> https://bit.ly/2EBT2yG Host: John Purcell Guest: Anne Summers

It’s been 100 years since suffragettes won the right for some privileged Englishwomen to vote, and this anniversary got us thinking about the milestones of feminism across time. At All About Women 2018 we invited four speakers to reflect on what feminism has achieved and what is still to be done in a panel called From Suffragettes to Social Media. We were joined by historian Barbara Caine who spoke to the First Wave, iconic Second-waver Anne Summers, Rebecca Walker shared her insights on the Third Wave and playwright Nakkiah Lui rounded out the panel posing the question: is there even a Fourth Wave? The session was chaired by Edwina Throsby. Watch the full talk including discussion and audience Q&A at youtube.com/ideasatthehouse.

"Our beds are 30 millimetres apart - thats the size of the top half of your thumb."In a departure from previous 100 voices for 100 years a more adult piece for you on day 29.Stevie Tyler discovers Anne Summers wasn't what it used to be and wonders exactly how much you can hear through those walls. In a hilarious piece by writer and entrepreneur Stevie, she explores the taboo of the things you're meant to ignore and smashes through that with joyful glee.

Dr Anne Summers AO is a best-selling author, journalist and thought leader with a long career in politics, the media, business and the non-government sector. She is the author of eight books, including the classic Damned Whores and God’s Police, first published in 1975. She has been editor-in-chief of Ms., the landmark US feminist magazine, and her 1988 purchase of Ms. and Sassy magazines with business partner Sandra Yates remains one of only two women-led management buyouts in US corporate history. Her professional life has seen her run the Office for the Status of Women (now Office for Women) during the Hawke government, and she also advised former Prime Minister Paul Keating on women’s and other issues in the lead-up to the 1993 election. On matters of gender equality, social responsibility and social justice Anne Summers’ articulate journalism, politics and activism have called us all to account.

Anne Summers gave a call to action speech during WRAW (Women's Rights at Work) at Victorian Trades Hall on International Working Women's Day.March 3 outside Melbourne Town Hall people spoke to us about the #Nohomelessban campaign and Dr David Giles talkes about a seminar March 17, 6-8pm at the Multicultural Hub in Elizabeth St, City.Kevin rounded up the week with This is the Week that Was.Humphrey McQueen reminds us that the 150 anniversary of Das Capital is coming in Sept. Get reading because in Sept Humphry has commited himself to a talk back on the subject.

The launch of Anne Summers 2009 novel The Lost Mother: A Story of Art and Love. Recorded at Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation (SCAF), 16 July 2009.

Anne Summers is an author, journalist, editor, publisher and columnist. The fact that I need to use five adjectives to accurately describe her role in Australian writing culture speaks volumes about Anne's impact, influence and ability. To my knowledge, she is the first guest of Penmanship to appear on an Australian postage stamp, as part of a series celebrating Australian legends in 2011. Her career began with the publication of an ambitious and controversial book named Damned Whores and God's Police in 1975. Anne has written eight books so far, but it's the updated 2016 edition of that first title which brings her to Brisbane in late April for an event at Avid Reader bookstore. Before the 40th anniversary book launch at Avid, I met Anne at her hotel room in South Brisbane for a conversation which touches on how she became a contributing writer to Australian newspapers and radio while still a child; the difficult and lengthy process of writing Damned Whores and God's Police; how she made the transition from journalism to working for a prime minister – twice! – in 1983 and 1992; what makes a great magazine profile, and how she decided to launch her online magazine Anne Summers Reports after a disagreement with an editor at a major Australian magazine. Dr Anne Summers AO is a best-selling author and journalist with a long career in politics, the media, business and the non-government sector in Australia, Europe and the United States. She is author of eight books, including the classic Damned Whores and God’s Police, first published in 1975. This bestseller was updated in 1994 and, again, in 2002 and stayed continuously in print until 2008. A new edition was published on International Women’s Day 2016. In 1975 she became a journalist, first on The National Times, then in 1979 was appointed Canberra bureau chief for the Australian Financial Review and then the paper’s North American editor. In 1987 in New York she was editor-in-chief of Ms. – America’s landmark feminist magazine – and the following year, with business partner Sandra Yates bought Ms. and Sassy magazines in the second only women-led management buyout in US corporate history. In November 2012 she began publishing Anne Summers Reports, a lavish free digital magazine that promises to be ‘Sane, Factual, Relevant’ and which reports on politics, social issues, art, architecture and other subjects not covered adequately by the mainstream media. In September 2013, Anne launched her series of Anne Summers Conversations events with former prime minister Julia Gillard in front of a packed Sydney Opera House. In 1989 she was made an Officer in the Order of Australia for her services to journalism and to women. In 2011, along with three other women, Anne was honoured as an Australian Legend with her image placed on a postage stamp. Show notes and links to what was discussed in this episode: http://penmanshippodcast.com/episode-23-anne-summers/ Anne Summers on Twitter: @SummersAnne Penmanship on Twitter: @PenmanshipAU penmanshippodcast.com

This year the annual Pamela Denoon lecture will be presented by Wendy McCarthy AO under the title: Past victories, present challenges: Has Feminism failed Australian women? Further event details to follow. About the lecture The Pamela Denoon Lecture was inaugurated in 1989 as a tribute to the memory of Pamela Denoon and as a reminder that the gains that have been made by women over the years have only been possible because of the enormous dedication of women like Pamela. Pamela Denoon worked tirelessly to promote equality for women and was the National Coordinator of Women’s Electoral Lobby from 1982-84. She actively lobbied for women’s rights in Canberra during the 1980s and her bequest helped establish the National Foundation for Australian Women and the Pamela Denoon Trust. The Pamela Denoon Lecture is a regular event during International Women’s Week in Canberra. Speakers have included politicians, academics and a few more well-known personalities such as Judy Horacek, Anne Summers and Julie McCrossin. The Lecture aims to inspire and motivate women to find out more about issues for women in Australia and encourage some of them to get involved in a local organisation that works to promote women’s rights and other major women’s issues.

The 8th instalment of Here to Help with Leon and Dustin. As it's Valentines week Leon and Dustin are solving peoples problems in Anne Summers. They discuss Die Hard, all things valentines, drinking too much coke and more Die Hard. Enjoy!

Outside their comfort zone, this week David and Liam attend a house party in the far off land of Cumbernauld.  The two have a great time as they forget to pick up a friend, interrupt an Anne Summers party, fall over dogs and get poked by a vibrator.  They have many exciting conversations with the other party guests involving playing piano on somebody’s arm, getting sunburned and being suggested erotic toys.  Shenanigans continues as the group argue with an adolescent about his age, leave cider in the bathroom, give a speech about gangs and shout abuse at a drunk man.  Also find out if one of the group where lucky enough to win a raffle and something new to play with.  The question of the week leads to discussion of hidden DVD’s and your dying wish.  All this week on the We Killed The Radio Star Podcast! We’d like to thank music.mevio.com for providing music for the podcast.  Please check out www.wekilledtheradiostar.com and follow our twitter page - @wekilledstar.  The song this week was You Took Me Home by Axel Schneider!