Love to Read Local 2021: Maria Papas talks to novelist Josephine Taylor about Eye of a Rook and giving voice to women’s experiences
Josephine Taylor says ‘Now Eye of a Rook is in the world and my vulvodynia story is complete. My pain was not invited but it has brought me to this. How can I not be grateful?’ In this Love to Read Local Podcast, Jo talks to City of Hungerford winner Maria Papas about her new novel.
Vulvodynia, the condition at the heart of Eye of a Rook is one that affects over two million women in Australia. It is a condition known to medicine since Victorian times but one that the medical profession still doesn’t understand. Taylor says, ‘What … really incensed me about this was that so many women were experiencing this pain but nobody really knew anything about it. I think that I really felt that it was critical that women were given a voice.’
Show notes
Guests
Josephine Taylor is a writer and freelance editor who lives on the coast north of Perth, Western Australia. She is an associate editor at Westerly Magazine and an adjunct senior lecturer in Writing at Edith Cowan University. Josephine teaches, facilitates and judges in literary fiction and creative non-fiction. Her personal essays and fiction have been anthologised, and published in journals including Axon, M/C Journal, Outskirts, Southerly, TEXT and Westerly. Her debut novel is Eye of a Rook.
Josephine on socials: @jtaylorauthor on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter
More writing and essays are accessible at Josephine’s website: https://josephinetaylor.com/
Maria Papas won the 2020 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award and her debut novel Skimming Stones will be out in 2021. She has published stories and essays in various journals including TEXT, Griffith Review, Axon and The Letters Page. She holds a PhD from the University of Western Australia.
Maria on socials: @miamaria_books on Instagram and @MariaPapas5 on Twitter
Other mentions
Isaac Baker Brown, On the curability of certain forms of insanity, epilepsy, catalepsy, and hysteria in females
The Lady in the Carriage by Josephine Taylor
Vulvodynia and Autoethnograph PhD Thesis by Josephine Taylor
Show notes:
This episode is produced by Fremantle Press for Love to Read Local. To listen to more episodes, subscribe to the Fremantle Press Podcast on iTunes, Google Play or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts.
About Love to Read Local by Writing WA
Love to Read Local is a statewide, celebration of Western Australian stories, books and writers. Visit the Love to Read Local website to connect with other readers, tell us which local books you love to read and perhaps inspire others to read those books too!
Music: ‘Letter to a Daughter of St George’, from the Meat Lunch EP: Songs from Floaters. Written by Alan Fyfe. Performed by Trevor Bentley (guitar and vocals – @trevormb) and Chris Parkinson (harmonica). Produced by Blake Carnaby of Nuglife studios with impresario work by Benjamin P. Newton.
Producer: Claire Miller
Mastered and edited by: Aidan d’Adhemar
This podcast was produced in Walyalup in Whadjuk Boodja, on the lands of the Noongar people.
