What is ‘normal’ when it comes to our bodies? When we think of what that is, we can’t help but be influenced by the excess of images and ideas of what we should (and shouldn’t) be. Queer bodies, obesity, bodies of colour, disability, illness and more tend to fall outside the narrow scope of the body in Australian collective thinking.
At the first online Talking Writing event, panellists examined what it is to move through the world with a body that can be marginalised by the limiting socially devised definition of what the body should be and do. In this event, writers discussed writing their own bodies, identity and the challenges of representation in a country that is still grappling with notions of what a ‘normal’ body looks like.
Author and Judy Harris Writer in Residence at the Charles Perkins Centre, Tracy Sorensen, chaired this panel featuring author Peter Polites, queercrip poet and historian Robin M Eames, and award-winning Filipina poet and teaching artist Eunice Andrada.
Listen below, and check out more of our recorded events on our Soundcloud page.
Watch the recorded event below, and check out more videos on our Youtube channel.
You can also download and read the transcript of the event below:
*
More from Writing NSW
Check out our full range of in-person writing courses in Sydney, our online writing courses and our feedback programs to see how we can help you on your writing journey. Find out about our grants and prizes, as well as writing groups across NSW, and sign up to our weekly newsletter for writing events, opportunities and giveaways.