Sara Hardy Writes

I discovered by pure chance that my two biographies, published by Allen & Unwin in 2005 and 2008, are being offered up as 'free to download' for no charge whatsoever in the name of ... learning? Both books have received approx 9,000 views and 5,000 downloads. Imagine if I got a dollar, or even a pathetic 10 cents for each download! These books are still available to purchase in the normal manner. These illegal free downloads screw the author, the publisher and the bookseller. There is a form on the website to fill in if the book is in copyright and therefore not permitted to be distributed. I, and Allen & Unwin have submitted requests for the books to be taken down, we've done this several times - but to no avail. No response, no action. And it's not just minnow authors like me, there are current big fish names in the mix - their books made available by these thieving sharks. I'm so furious about it, yet am powerless. It's happened to me before, on a di...

I am giving a talk on Edna Walling to the Australian Garden History Society, Victorian Branch on 18th August, 2022 – here are details in case some locals are interested. All welcome. Drinks from 5.30pm. Brief AGM at 6pm followed by my talk at approx. 6.15. I’ll be selling/signing copies of my biography The Unusual Life of Edna Walling and my novel A Secretive Life afterwards. Info and bookings via https://www.gardenhistorysociety.org.au/.../vic-branch.../ Venue: Mueller Hall, National Herbarium of Victoria, South Yarra, Melbourne. Edna Walling‘s trademark landscape features include fine flights of steps, flagstone paths, dry-stone walls and elegant sweeping boarders. Edna self-built her own cottage and created Bickleigh Vale Village in Mooroolbark, outer Melbourne. She had an extraordinary career: she was a landscape designer, gardener, photographer, builder, architect, journalist, author, sketcher, watercolourist, conservationist – and eco-visionary. In short, she was an Artist. He...

Photo by Ponch Hawkes. No title (Women holding hands in front of graffiti, 'Lesbians are lovely') (1973); printed (2018) – as seen in Queer Stories exhibition, 2022. I've been to the Queer Stories exhibition twice - because you need to give it a good deal of concentrated time. I had imagined there'd be plenty of images like this wonderful photo by Ponch Hawkes - yet this kind of loving, fun, 'lesbians are lovely' representation was rare, in fact the above, and Ponch Hawkes' second exhibit below, was all I found of this 1970s tone. Yet there's masses to see, and something for everyone, from outrageous fashion (I really liked the tuxedo jacket and trousers designed for women) ... to statues from antiquity. Two of my favourite Sapphists, Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf, had a singular spot on the wall, and there were some very interesting women artists I hadn't known about. To my great surprise, I came across a display case containing an album...

Remembering those who served on ANZAC DAY today - plus those civilians caught in the crossfire of hell, past and present. I suddenly thought of Dame Joan Hammond, Australian opera singer and golf champion. She served as an ambulance driver during the London blitz, WW2, in between singing gigs. This pic shows her in ambulance uniform - and she always took her dog along for comfort and company, though not in the actual ambulance, he remained at the station while she was out saving lives. (For more on Hammond, see my biography of her fascinating life: Dame Joan Hammond - Love and Music. Available on Kindle and epub, and from libraries. For instance: https://www.amazon.com.au/Dame-Joan-Hammond-Love-music-ebook/dp/B0051SIUS0 )

Ruth Roellig (1878-1969), author, journalist and travel writer, is best known for her guidebook Berlins lesbische Frauen – Berlin’s Lesbian Women, first published in 1928, reprinted until its banning by the Nazis circa 1938. More than a guidebook, it was a rousing social and political rallying call – there is struggle, Ruth wrote, ‘but side by side with that, the joy of dancing’. The Forward to this 72-page book was written by pioneering sexologist and activist Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935). Hirschfeld founded the Institute for Sexual Research and was an outspoken advocate for homosexuals, lesbians, sexual minorities and transgender rights. He was also gay – so no wonder Ruth Roellig asked him to officially endorse and introduce her remarkable book. Berlins lesbische Frauen was a guide like no other, listing and describing all the lesbian-identified social contacts and venues which included twelve social clubs, two ice-skating leagues, at least one nudist retreat, three outdoor sport...

Midsumma Festival in Melbourne - January 30 2022: Get in between the pages and meet lesbian authors face-to-face — a fabulous afternoon of book readings and a panel discussion with established and emerging writers. Compered by Monica Dullard , everything from crime and cutting-edge fiction to historical romps, biography and more. Authors include Sara Hardy, Lindy Cameron, Kathleen Mary Fallon, Robin Gregory, Loretta Smith, Jean Taylor, Jessica Megarry and Robyn Arianrhod . Publishers Spinifex Press, Dyke Books and Clan Destine Press will be represented. Books available to purchase. Here's a couple of video links to an interview done by LOTL with Loretta Smith and Sara Hardy - my rave about my novel is about 14 minutes in. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RlGxRtkD9I&t=3s https://www.facebook.com/lotlmedia/videos/1586524291708781/

1920s Weimar Berlin was the capital of decadence where everyone was dancing on the edge of the volcano. Many tourists came just for the nightlife, especially gay men such at Christopher Isherwood - the originator of the stories that became 'Cabaret' - for Berlin was the gay capital of the world back then. But the partying and new sexual freedoms were but a moment of glitter before the devastating rise of Fascism - as 'Cabaret' demonstrates. My novel, A Secretive Life, features a 1920s Berlin cabaret star, Steffi - and it is through her that my novel captures the Berlin cabaret scene, its 'devine decadence' and horrific underbelly. Another Berlin character is the real-life Ruth Roellig - journalist, travel writer, novelist, lesbian - and devoted owner of a pet monkey. Ruth Roellig wrote the LGBT era-defining Berlin Travel Guide Berlins lesbische Frauen published in 1928 (pic of front cover above). It was reprinted several times, and finally banned by the Nazis...