Sara Hardy Writes

  Sometimes it's good to simply listen. If you'd like to hear me talking for over 50 minutes (!) about the wonderful Australian Landscape Designer, gardener, architect, artist, photographer, author... well, all round fabulous woman - please go here for the podcast:  https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/infinite-women/embed/episodes/Sara-Hardy-on-Edna-Walling-e2a2u32 The podcast begins with my introduction to Edna Walling (see below) - then it broadens into an in-depth discussion across many aspects of Edna Walling’s life. I am indebted to Allison Tyra and her ‘Infinite Women’ podcast for inviting me to be interviewed for her series celebrating extraordinary women in history. Introduction: Edna Walling was a landscape designer, gardener, horticulturalist, journalist, photographer, author – and fine drawer and painter of her watercolour garden design plans. Born in England in 1895, Edna was a trouser-wearing, animal-and-Nature-loving, highly individual being. Her legacy has...

  Oh what a wonderfully witty, clever, funny, moving, lesbian, queer, feminist queer, and super queer-queer TV series While The Men Are Away  is! Oh and sexy, I forgot to mention across-the-spectrum sexy - and that too is very cleverly portrayed. This really is one out of the box and congrats to SBS, Australia's Special Broadcasting Service, for choosing to back this project and the vastly experienced team behind it. The plot is based on a simple premise: While the men are away fighting in WWII, gorgeous Frankie, an Italian immigrant married to an Australian farmer who is 'away', enlists two Women's Land Army recruits, a (bi-sexual?) draft dodger, and her Indigenous farmhand to help run the family farm. What could go wrong? And indeed, what could go queerly right? The story is told in eight 28 minute segments, and they pack such a lot into that small space! The series premiered on 27th September 2023 and can be viewed/binged on demand here: https://www.sbs.com.au/ondema...

Edna Walling, the brilliant landscape designer, gardener and all round artist extraordinaire, worked very hard on her own and other people's gardens, yet she liked to remind us in her books and journalism that the primary function of said garden was to sit amongst it and enjoy it! Relax and read and dream or doze. Edna Walling also said that she most enjoyed Nature's own groupings, the more accidental the better. I was reminded of this this morning when looking at our clump of lilies - and noticing that a beautiful purple iris had presented herself to add to the display. I love these surprises. Edna Walling openly referred to herself as 'odd' or 'a misfit' in her time (1895-1973) - today I think she'd happily accept the word 'queer'. I have very interesting, indeed exciting news to tell in the near future about this extraordinary woman - and a certain feature film project ... watch this space! Oh, and while you're here, I've been told that th...

  There's a fabulous radio program on JOY Radio - Melbourne's wonderful LGBTQI+ local station - where writers of all types are interviewed every Saturday between 1 and 2 pm by members of a wonderful team pictured below. They really know their stuff and give great interview! I had the pleasure and honour of experiencing this first hand last week as I was interviewed by Loretta and Rob. I think it must be the most enjoyable and relaxed live radio conversation about 'me and my writing' that I've ever experienced. It really was a joy, and I highly recommend this program. Here's a link to listen; my bit starts about 8 minutes in and lasts 40 minutes. You can search the website for lots of fab interviews with wonderful writers, and download the podcasts:    https://joy.org.au/ takemetoyourreader/2023/09/03/ lesbian-playwright-biographer- and-novelist-sara-hardy-talks- about-her-early-life-coming- out-and-writing-in-different- genres-2nd-sept-2023/ Joy 94.9 FM

 Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO * By chance, I had the great pleasure to meet Deborah Cheetham Fraillon - an exceptional, wonderful, spirited Yorta Yorta woman. I think I may have gushed a bit, but she was very gracious. Deborah is an Aboriginal Australian soprano, composer, educator, actor, playwright, leader and advocate for all things Musical, Aboriginal and Queer(ical). We had a brief exchange as we played musical chairs at it were, I had just given an interview at local radio station 3MBS about my novel and she about to give an interview about The Australian Ballet's production of Identity 'The Hum' for which she composed the music. I saw the production a few days later. Deborah's music was extraordinary, in fact I closed my eyes at times just to concentrate on it. I've never heard anything quite like it - dramatic (a thunderous big drum beat to begin), lyrical, forceful, diverse... And, would you believe: fascinatingly, wonderfully, Deborah's wife, Nicolette...

  Two well-placed cherries and Miriam Margolyes has us in her sights, outrageously and wittily provocative as ever.  Who would have thought that British VOGUE would choose an 82 year old (in her own words:) 'fat old lesbian' as their featured celebrity for Pride Month? Is there nothing this wonderful woman cannot do?! She's achieving more and more as she ages. What an example. Apart from her impressive acting career, in the last few years she's produced a best selling memoir, and is currently working on a follow up book. Her TV travel documentaries are highly entertaining and provocative, every adventure spurred on by her fearless guiltless and at times very lewd honesty. What a lesbian icon to have in our midst. Brava! Oh Miriam! Stories from an Extraordinary Life   by Miriam Margolyes (John Murray Press) will be published on 14 September 2023. And watch the video: British Vogue presents 'In The Bag' with Miriam Margolyes - a must see revelation of the stuff sh...

International Lesbian Visibility Day is upon us, not that it's going to get much notice. This Day, and in some places Week, goes by without much fanfare unless you already have it in your calendar. I've been thinking about the concept of visibility  and lesbian and what that might mean in practical terms these days. How do we lesbians 'do' visibility when we're not doing Dykes-on-Bikes etc in the Mardi Gras Parade? When Australia's notorious and injurious 2017 Plebiscite on Gay Marriage/Same Sex Marriage worked up a head of furious indignation in certain "NO" quarters, I took to wearing a lesbian badge as a proud visible identifier - something I hadn't done since the 70s and 80s. As an older lesbian I don't really look like a lesbian any more - partly because, as an older woman I've become completely invisible - unless I start making a big fuss about something: at the drinks bar, in the queue, or just walking along the blasted footpath! I ...