Tablo | State Library Victoria

Author Q&A with Carmel Bird – Thurs 14 Dec, 8pm AEDT

We'll be chatting with award-winning Australian author Carmel Bird on from 8pm AEDT on Thursday 14 December to celebrate a new award for digital short stories and the launch of Bird's new digital collection, The dead aviatrix: eight short stories.

Is there anything you'd like to know about writing short stories or publishing online? Don't miss this chance to put your questions to an experienced and talented writer. No need to wait until 14 December either – post them as they come to you.

If you'd like a bit of inspiration, have a read of some of Carmel's work:

Carmel Bird has written novels, short stories, essays and books on the art of writing, in addition to editing anthologies of essays and stories. She was awarded the Patrick White Award in 2016.

Another question from me: The book The Flying Girl mentioned in your story ‘The Dead Aviatrix’ is an autobiography. The Flying Girl was previously used as the title for a novel by Frank Baum (writing under the pseudonym of Edith Van Dyne) and it was said to be ‘an innovative blend of genres to create a feminist adventure’. Are there enough ‘feminist adventures’ being written these days? Is there still a need for them?

Another great question. The story of ‘The Dead Aviatrix’ is fiction woven from a very broad sweep of facts. The Finch One aviatrix in the story is a reference to Nancy Bird who wrote an autobiography titled ‘My God it’s a Woman!’. Just as I altered her name a little bit from Bird to Finch, so I altered the title of her autobiography to The Flying Girl with its echo of the sitcom The Flying Nun – both these latter titles having a transgressive, amusing feminist air to them. Yes the title is the same as Frank Baum’s feminist novel – he sometimes satirised feminists, but he was often on their side too. The Wizard of Oz is a girl’s adventure – Dorothy leads the way and has the great good Glinda and Aunty Em, as well as the wicked witch of the west.
I seem to see feminist adventure stories for girls everywhere in the bookshops, but I don’t really know about the volume of them being published. I think they’re pretty big business. Particularly in the category of young adult fiction. I think it’s good for girls to read fiction that inspires them to be adventurous. Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas any more.