#aww2018 & #aww2019

This is my round up post for the Australian women writers Challenge 2018.

I read a total of 20 books by Australian women writers, well over the goal of ten that I’d set for myself. They included

• three children’s books
• one young adult novel
• nine books of poetry
• four novels
• one book of short stories
• one memoir
• one political essay

You can see my blog entries on them at this link.

Now I’m signing up for another year, at the Franklin level, which means I aim to read and review 10 books by Australian women in 2019. Given that I expect to read at least a couple of small children’s books as part of the challenge, I’ll probably read more than 10 books, but that’s all I’ll commit to. Add to that, I plan to read at least two by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander women, of whom I read none this year.

On a related topic, I’ve done a quick gender check on books I read this year altogether. Not counting illustrators of children’s books or comics, I read:

• 34 by women
• 29 by men

I read four books in translation (two each from German and Polish), and two books by Aboriginal authors. I’d like to have more diversity in my reading.