Anonymous Was A Woman Podcast

Astrid Edwards interviews Samah Sabawi about her memoir Cactus Pear For My Beloved  which is shortlisted for the 2025 Stella Prize. 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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy i...

Astrid Edwards interviews Melanie Cheng about her novel  The Burrow , which is shortlisted for the 2025 Stella Prize. 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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Astrid Edwards interviews Amy McQuire about  Black Witness: The Power of Indigenous Media , which is shortlisted for the 2025 Stella Prize. 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. See omnystudio.com/listener for p...

Astrid Edwards interviews Jumaana Abdu about  Translations , which is shortlisted for the 2025 Stella Prize. 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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

 Astrid Edwards interviews Santilla Chingaipe about  Black Convicts: How Slavery Shaped Australia , which is shortlisted for the 2025 Stella Prize. 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. See omnystudio.com/l...

Astrid Edwards interviews Michelle de Kretser about  Theory & Practice , which is shortlisted for the 2025 Stella Prize. 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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informat...

We are back! Jamila Rizvi introduces a special Stella Season of  Anonymous Was A Woman. Astrid Edwards, FW book nerd and Chair of Judges for the 2025 Stella Prize, has interviewed the six authors shortlisted this year. Astrid interviews Michelle de Kretser (Theory & Practice), Santilla Chingape (Black Convicts: How Slavery Shaped Australia), Melanie Cheng (The Burrow), Samah Sabawi (Cactu...

Aja Barber has pledged to never take a dollar from fast fashion, and in her 2021 book 'Consumed' she explains why. She is passionate about racial justice and exposing endemic injustices in our consumer and fashion industries. Aja is also no stranger to campaigning for change. Her Instagram video 'Why Performative Allyship is Triggering', which called out brands and influencers for monetising the B...

This week Jamila Rizvi and Astrid Edwards are joined by Future Women's Bojana Kos.  Chapter 1: Jamila asks whether or not books can help drive our understanding of sustainability, and Astrid takes issues with the term itself. Chapter 2: Jamila brings Ash Davidson's powerful debut, 'Damnation Spring' to the podcast. Chapter 3: Astrid once again picks a non-fiction work and recommends 'Under a...

Lisa Millar is the co-host of ABC TV's  News Breakfast, and 'Daring to Fly' is her memoir about conquering fear and finding joy. Lisa returned to the ABC in Australia after finishing a decade-long posting as bureau chief in both London and Washington DC, covering some of the world's biggest stories. She began her career at the  Gympie Times  in 1988 and has worked in print, TV and r...

This week Jamila Rizvi and Astrid Edwards are joined by Future Women's Ella Jackson.  Chapter 1: Jamila, Astrid and Ella consider the different ways women choose to tell their own stories, and the stories of those who have come before them. Chapter 2: Jamila brings Lucy Adlington's historical fiction novel 'The Dressmakers of Auschwitz' to the podcast.  Chapter 3: This week Astrid choose...

Mark Humphries is the resident satirist on ABC-TV's 7.30, and he recently published 'On Politics and Stuff' with Evan Williams. In this interview, Mark considers the role of satire in politics and tackles the question of how to satirise female politicians without being misogynist. Mark's other writing has appeared in The Guardian  and the Sun-Herald , and he has previously created satiri...

This week Jamila Rizvi and Astrid Edwards are bring their favourites to the table, and they are joined by Future Women favourite Madison Howarth. Chapter 1: Everyone brought memoir this week! So to kick off the episode, Jamila, Astrid and Madi reflect on how memoir has changed over the last decade (for the better, as we are seeing fewer formal autobiographies and more stories of lived experience b...

Annika Smethurst is the state political editor at  The Age  newspaper in Melbourne. She is a double Walkley Award winner and has two Melbourne Quill Awards for political reporting. In 2019, Annika became the accidental poster woman for press freedom when her house was raided by the AFP over a story she wrote revealing a government plan to allow the Australian Signals Directorate to spy o...

Once again, Jamila Rizvi and Astrid Edwards consider the world through the lens of reading and books. Chapter 1: So, what is politics and why does it matter? And what do books have to do with politics anyway? Chapter 2: Jamila delights in revisiting the revised and updated edition of Julia Baird's 'Media Tarts'. Chapter 3: Astrid presents Marion Wilkinson's 'The Carbon Club: How a network of influ...

Mark Brandi is an award-winning writer of literary crime. His stories tend to focus on the darkness in the world as experienced from young or disadvantaged protagonists. 'The Others' is his third - and perhaps most haunting - novel. Mark's bestselling novel, ' Wimmera' , won the coveted British Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger, and was named Best Debut at the 2018 Australian Indie Book Awar...

Jamila Rizvi is back! We have missed her, and from this week Jamila is back leading our discussion of all things books. Chapter 1: As they so often do, Jamila and Astrid consider the harder things in life. This week, the theme is darkness, and they reflect on what they like to read and when. Chapter 2: Jamila introduces Jaivet Ealom's 2021 memoir, 'Escape from Manus'. Jaivet is the only perso...

The Melbourne Writers Festival was curtailed in September 2021 because of the pandemic, so Jamila Rizvi and Astrid spoke to two of the authors who would have appeared live on stage. Claire Thomas discusses her novel  'The Performance' - an extraordinary exploration of women's inner lives that is both enthralling and profound. Sophie Gonzales reflects on her YA novel 'Only Mostly Devastated',...

Helen McCabe once again joins Astrid Edwards on Anonymous Was A Woman. Tis week they agree and love two wonderful debut works of fiction (unlike last week!). Chapter 1: This week our loose theme is questioning. Astrid asks Helen what she thinks will happen in 2022, and Helen has a great answer. Chapter 2: Helen recommends ' Small Joys of Real Life' by Allee Richards. Chapter 3: Astrid discusses 'O...

Grace Jennings-Edquist is a journalist at the ABC, where she writes articles on issues including gender equality and wellbeing. 'The Yes Woman: How to reclaim your power by finally saying no' is her first book. As a former senior editor at Mamamia Women’s Network, Grace has written extensively about women’s mental health for an audience of millennial Australian women. Grace’...

Helen McCabe once again joins Astrid Edwards on Anonymous Was A Woman to discuss equality and equity, and of course, the latest in fiction and non-fiction. Chapter 1: Astrid and Helen consider equity (and yes, both are still in lockdown in Melbourne and Sydney). Chapter 2: Helen shares her vehement thoughts on 'The View Was Exhausting', the debut novel from couple Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datt...

Danielle Binks is a writer, reviewer and literary agent. This year she released ' The Monster of Her Age', her debut YA novel. The Year the Maps Changed,  Danielle's debut middle-grade novel, was a CBCA Notable Book for Younger Readers 2021, longlisted for the ABIA Book of the Year Award for Younger Children 2021, shortlisted for the Readings Children's Book Prize 2021 and longlisted for the...

Season 5 of Anonymous Was A Woman starts today. To kick off the season, Helen McCabe joins Astrid Edwards (we promise, Jamila Rizvi will be with us on Thursday). Chapter 1: We picked a happy topic to kick off the season! Helen and Astrid consider the idea of innovation, and areas where women are the ones driving the change. Chapter 2: Helen introduces the timely 'Vaxxers: The Inside Story of the O...

Join journalist and presenter, Leila McKinnon, as she chats to inspirational women who are living their lives, their way. Find out what drives them; the lessons they've learned; and the ones they wish they'd known earlier. Subscribe now or search for 'Future Women Drive' wherever you get your podcasts.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As we wait for Season 5 we are bringing back our highest rating episodes. This interview with Louise Milligan was originally released on 5 February 2021. Louise is an investigative reporter for ABC TV's  Four Corners  and the author of  Cardinal , which won the Walkley Book Award and broke massive international news preceding the court case involving one of the most senior memb...