The godmother of Australian letters, Helen Garner, has found chart-topping success yet again with The Season, her first full-length work in a decade. Garner is now in her 80s. “Beyond a certain age women become invisible in public spaces,” Garner once wrote. She is far from alone in her observation that ageing women are often discarded by society, but this frequently leads to the most profound creative work.Â
Miranda July’s trending and acclaimed novel All Fours examined female desire and menopause in a way that gripped countless readers. Julia Louis-Dreyfus gained more traction with her popular podcast Wiser Than Me, in which she interviews female icons who are 65 or older. Louis-Dreyfus signs off every episode of her podcast with the same plea: “if there’s an old lady in your life, talk to her!“
