She Shapes History has made a video of 7 Writers for book week 2025.

Here we are looking young in dappled light, in a photo taken by Brenda Runneger many years ago, from left Sara Dowse, Marion Halligan, Margaret Barbalet, myself, Dorothy Horsfield, Suzanne Edgar and Marianne Eldridge.

Of the 7, four of us remain. Marianne Eldridge, Marion Halligan and Dorothy Horsfield have died.

We started meeting as a writers’ workshop in the early 1980s and continued until after Marian Eldridge’s death in 1997. We became known for our longevity and the vigour of our discussions (some of which were televised!) I think we continue to be of interest to the reading public because of a mistaken, but persistent view that Canberra is somehow inimical to the creative life. The myth is fading, but it still pops up in the most surprising places. I’ve written about it in an essay called Disturbing Undertones.

For anyone interested in reading more about ‘7 Writers’ and other Australian literary communities, an excellent book has recently been published called Republics of Letters: Literary Communities in Australia. Our chapter, by D’Arcy Randall, is called ‘Seven Writers and Australia’s Literary Capital’.

We met in each others’ houses and brought our babies. We accumulated children and grandchildren, but also published books. Our anthology, ‘Canberra Tales’ was published in 1988 and later re-printed as ‘The Division of Love’. Thanks to the Untapped Project, an edition is once again in print, thankfully under the original title. We’d argued with Penguin over this, and were told that to publish a work of fiction with ‘Canberra’ in the title was to give it the kiss of death.

We were made conscious of being pioneers. In the 1980s there’d been very few works of fiction set in Canberra, though poetry had fared better. It was a struggle to write at all and even more of a struggle to get published. (Nothing’s changed there!) We buoyed each other up and argued with each other. We rushed in where, it seemed, angels feared to tread. It’s heartening that this new video has given us credit for what we achieved and for me personally brought back many memories.

https://www.facebook.com/SheShapesHistory/videos/734214552852864