Sometimes, life throws you a curveball. In our last show for 2023, we invited our line-up to tell us stories of change. It might be a transformation they initiated, or a transition that happened to them. New paths can be invigorating and exciting, or confusing and downright scary. Regardless, the only constant in life is change, so this November, come hear a night of stories about forging your own path, wherever where that path takes you…
Our performer line-up:
Team 20s: Katha Villanueva is a recent University of Melbourne graduate, now a software engineer. In her spare time, she attempts to navigate adulthood and her own ever-changing passions. Casually, she is a writer, reader, artist, and just about anything creative. She has won and placed numerous writing competitions and hopes to fill the next chapters of her life with as much wonder as written in her stories.
Team 30s: Claire Tonti is a singer/songwriter, Matrescence activist & podcaster. Her debut album Matrescence released in February 2023 explores the process of becoming a mother - including themes of love, loss, overcoming birth trauma & mothering as a creative. She also hosts two podcasts Suggestible & TONTS. a series of in depth interviews with women & diverse voices including writers, activists, experts, thinkers & deeply feeling humans.
Team 40s: Emma McMillan is a former Dance and Drama teacher turned entrepreneur who loves a good story. Emma works as a copywriting coach and small business mentor, building writing confidence and capacity in others. Her long-running podcast ‘Not Just About Copy’ blends actionable marketing tips with insightful small business conversations.
Team 50s: Gamuchirai Goronga has 33 years of experience as a teacher, social worker, and senior manager in child protection across Australia, Zimbabwe and the UK. She was the Child Protection Director for Victoria's Central Highlands area until late 2022. Currently, she is a consultant and is pursuing a Professional Doctorate in Social Work at Latrobe University.
Team 60s: Sue Grieshaber is Professor of Early Childhood Education in the School of Education. Her research interests are informed by a range of critical, feminist, and feminist poststructural theories that address social justice and equity, and include early childhood curriculum, policy, pedagogies and families; women in higher education; and qualitative research approaches.
Team 70s: Anita Jawary is an artist, poet, short story writer, speaker and storyteller. She is also a fan of the writer Charles Dickens. When asked why she named her website, ‘The Dickensian Challenge’? Anita explained “Dickens wrote his novels in regular instalments, to a deadline. If we could live our lives in that way, remembering that we have a deadline, how much more productive might they be?”
Generation Women is an award-winning cross-generational storytelling night founded in New York in 2017, Sydney in 2018, and Melbourne in 2020. Each month, six women of note read an original piece on a theme. Of those women, one is in her 20s, her 30s, her 40s, her 50s, her 60s, and her 70s+.
Hosted by Rebecca Lister. Produced by Donna Logue, Hopepunk Productions. Created by Georgia Clark.