ANU Meet the author, In conversation with Frank Bongiorno – Tuesday, 30 September, 6.00pm

Virginia Haussegger will be in conversation with Frank Bongiorno on her new book Unfinished Revolution. The Feminist Fightback. In 1975, the fight was alive. It was the year the United Nations declared International Women’s Year as a marker of progress and aspiration. Fifty years on, award-winning journalist Virginia Haussegger shines a light on the feminist revolution in Australia, capturing its spirited momentum and a fatigued lag.

Brazen Hussies: Then and now, NLA Canberra – Thursday 2 October, 6.00pm

Catherine Dwyer, Elizabeth Reid, and Biff Ward will sit down with Virginia Haussegger to discuss the evolution of feminism in Australia, and the making of the acclaimed documentary Brazen Hussies. The conversation will be followed by a screening of the 1-hour version of the film.

Canberra Writers Festival 2026

Girl on Girl: Modern Misogyny Gone Global – Fri 17 Oct 6:00pm

What have decades of reality TV, social media, porn and the beauty industry done to women and feminism around the world? Here from the UK, Pulitzer-nominated journalist and author Sophie Gilbert delves into the complex landscape of modern misogyny in her latest book Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves.  
Sophie will be in conversation with much-loved Canberra journalist and author, Virginia Haussegger, who has just emerged from an extensive period of research with her explosive work Unfinished Revolution: The Feminist Fightback. Together they will take a birds-eye view of where women find themselves.

Feminist Fightback! – Sat 25 Oct 3:30pm

Women everywhere are noticing signs of backlash after all the feminist progress forged in the 1960s-70s. Misogyny, rising rates of domestic violence, winding back of abortion rights… Women are in an unfinished revolution and the stakes could not be higher. This is the intimate but LOUD conversation we need to have that sets out the radical history of women’s liberation in Australia, tells hard truths about family violence, and issues a war cry for all women and girls. Above all, it will be a celebration of womanhood. 

Join journalist and author Virginia Haussegger, gender violence expert and journalist Jess Hill and award-winning author and poet Maxine Beneba Clarke for an honest chat that will also give YOU a chance to ask questions and be a part of the discussion. Moderated by Canberra author, artist and performance poet, Jacqui Malins.

Whitlam's Dismissal: On These Very Steps – Sun 26 Oct, 3:30PM

Australia changed under Whitlam. There were important steps taken on childcare, equal pay for women, access to education, Indigenous land rights and a greater sense of an independent Australia in the world. But the pressure mounted in the months leading up to his dismissal. Virginia Haussegger who has written on feminism and Whitlam, Esther Anatolitis, Editor of Meanjin’s recent issue on Whitlam and award-winning Wiradjuri writer, poet and academic, Jeanine Leanne come together with Whitlam biographer and journalist, Troy Bramston for this exciting panel. Each will take different perspectives on the story. How did the Woman and Politics Conference launched with a bang at Old Parliament House in September 1975 turn into a wild media circus and accusations Whitlam was letting crazy bra-less women’s libbers run the joint? What has Whitlam's dismissal meant for Australia's ongoing evolution towards being a Republic (culturally if not yet constitutionally)? How might we reinterpret the tall figure of Whitlam looming large over history and identity, including stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land rights in this country?  What unfolded during the day of the dismissal and on the steps of this building?

Ubud Writers Festival 31 Oct - 2 Nov

Gleebooks Sydney, Tuesday 25 Nov

More information to come