New organisation to support women in the literary industry

A new organisation to support women working in the literary industry has been launched.

Women in Literary Arts Australia (WILAA) was founded by writer and producer Lefa Singleton Norton, and also includes Melbourne Writers Festival CEO Lisa Dempster and Emerging Writers’ Festival general manager Kate Callingham.

In a statement, Singleton Norton said a 2014 roundtable of women in the writing and publishing industries found there was ‘a lack of centralised information and formal networks of support for women writers’. ‘WILAA is an attempt to remedy this. From networking opportunities, mentorships, events, workshops and marketing campaigns, we will endeavour to find practical ways to support women to excel,’ said Singleton Norton.

WILAA will conduct a nationwide industry survey over the coming months to ‘ascertain what is needed to better support women’, and will also research the representation of women on ‘our literary stages’. ‘This will build upon the great work of VIDA and the Stella Count and will also offer insight into the topics most often discussed by women and men, and the gender split in keynote events, moderators and programming staff,’ said Singleton Norton.

For more information, visit the WILAA website here.

Category: Local news