Great Expectations
ABOUT THE SHOW
Join four brilliant women of words as they illuminate the intricacies of female identity and experience. Across fiction, memoir, short stories and poetry, these dazzling books take readers from the toxic misogyny of 1980s Australia to the civil unrest of 21st-century Hong Kong, exploring the complexities of childlessness, cancel culture, political struggle and youthful idealism.
PART OF BRISBANE WRITERS FESTIVAL
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Clare Stephens is a Sydney-based author, screenwriter, and podcaster. She’s the former editor-in-chief at Mamamia – Australia’s largest independent women’s network, where she created and hosted award-winning podcasts. She’s a regular contributor to Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, and was a producer and writer on Binge series Strife. Her first novel, The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Done, is out now.
Lucy Nelson is an award-winning writer living on unceded Wodi Wodi and Dharawal Country. Her collection of short stories Wait Here is published by Summit Books (Simon & Schuster) and was named by both The Australian and The Guardian as a highly anticipated book of 2025. Her fiction has been published in Meanjin, Kill Your Darlings Anthology of New Australian Fiction and Southword. It has been shortlisted for the International Sean O’Faolain Short Fiction Prize, received the Newcastle Short Story Award, the Writing NSW Varuna Fellowship and the Templeberg Fellowship from Writers Victoria. Her book reviews and cultural commentary have appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Big Issue. Lucy is a graduate of RMIT, where she studied Professional Writing and Editing. She is currently completing her second book, a novel, which has also been acquired by Simon & Schuster.
Laura Jane Lee is a poet, teacher and voiceover artist based in Singapore, via Hong Kong and the UK. She is an alumni of the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and was awarded the Sir Roger Newdigate Prize under her birth name. She was also shortlisted for the Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize. Her work has been featured in The Straits Times, Poetry London, Ambit, QLRS, bath magg, and Bellingham Review, among others. She has also read at festivals in Rotterdam, Berlin, and Singapore. Laura Jane is the Editor-in-Chief of sploosh! Magazine and serves as Marketing Editor on the poetry.sg team. She is the co-editor of COAST II (forthcoming), the sequel to the seminal Mono-Titular Anthology of Singapore Writing, alongside Daren Shiau. Her most recent pamphlet flinch & air was published with Out-Spoken Press in 2021.
Anna Broinowski is a globally published filmmaker, author and synthetic media researcher at Sydney University. Her documentaries include the Walkley-winning Forbidden Lie$ and Aim High in Creation! Her books are The Director is the Commander, winner of the NIB Alex Buzo shortlist prize, and Please Explain: the rise, fall and rise again of Pauline Hanson, nominated for a Queensland Premier’s Award for Work of State Significance.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Suitable for 15+
18 months and under free on the knee; all other ages must hold a vaild ticket
ACCESSIBILITY
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Clare Stephens is a Sydney-based author, screenwriter, and podcaster. She’s the former editor-in-chief at Mamamia – Australia’s largest independent women’s network, where she created and hosted award-winning podcasts. She’s a regular contributor to Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, and was a producer and writer on Binge series Strife. Her first novel, The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Done, is out now.
Lucy Nelson is an award-winning writer living on unceded Wodi Wodi and Dharawal Country. Her collection of short stories Wait Here is published by Summit Books (Simon & Schuster) and was named by both The Australian and The Guardian as a highly anticipated book of 2025. Her fiction has been published in Meanjin, Kill Your Darlings Anthology of New Australian Fiction and Southword. It has been shortlisted for the International Sean O’Faolain Short Fiction Prize, received the Newcastle Short Story Award, the Writing NSW Varuna Fellowship and the Templeberg Fellowship from Writers Victoria. Her book reviews and cultural commentary have appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Big Issue. Lucy is a graduate of RMIT, where she studied Professional Writing and Editing. She is currently completing her second book, a novel, which has also been acquired by Simon & Schuster.
Laura Jane Lee is a poet, teacher and voiceover artist based in Singapore, via Hong Kong and the UK. She is an alumni of the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and was awarded the Sir Roger Newdigate Prize under her birth name. She was also shortlisted for the Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize. Her work has been featured in The Straits Times, Poetry London, Ambit, QLRS, bath magg, and Bellingham Review, among others. She has also read at festivals in Rotterdam, Berlin, and Singapore. Laura Jane is the Editor-in-Chief of sploosh! Magazine and serves as Marketing Editor on the poetry.sg team. She is the co-editor of COAST II (forthcoming), the sequel to the seminal Mono-Titular Anthology of Singapore Writing, alongside Daren Shiau. Her most recent pamphlet flinch & air was published with Out-Spoken Press in 2021.
Anna Broinowski is a globally published filmmaker, author and synthetic media researcher at Sydney University. Her documentaries include the Walkley-winning Forbidden Lie$ and Aim High in Creation! Her books are The Director is the Commander, winner of the NIB Alex Buzo shortlist prize, and Please Explain: the rise, fall and rise again of Pauline Hanson, nominated for a Queensland Premier’s Award for Work of State Significance.
