To celebrate the birthday of female Indonesian heroine, Raden Adjeng Kartini (1879-1904), who fought for gender equality and the right to education for all, our #UWRF22 Highlight Session will bring you a panel discussion on Women in Fiction. Women throughout history, and even now, face discrimination in the literary world. In the late 18th and 19th centuries, writing as a profession was primarily considered unsuitable for women. Many women wrote under male pseudonyms, such as George Eliot, whose real name was Mary Ann Evans. Today, the number of women publishing fiction in the Western world has increased. This poses many questions, such as: do women still have to deal with social barriers in writing careers? What about women of colour pursuing writing careers? Do they face unique challenges because of their race? Listen to journalist Annika Blau, Indonesian author Ramayda Akmal, novelist Diana Reid, and author Kirstin Chen discuss these issues and questions.
