Author Archives

I am a writer and educator in Drama and Theatre Studies. My specialist areas are Shakespeare, particularly with regard to the female characters, dramaturgy and theatre history. Raising a little boy also gives me plenty of cause to reflect on parenting and social justice issues. While my active site is orlandocreature.wordpress.com you can find lots more of my writing archived at Hoyden About Town, under both Anna and my earlier handle, Orlando. Twitter: @orlandocreature

• Are we all still here?

  By Anna on 2020-04-06 • ( 6 )

  

  *Waving from an appropriate distance* Hi everyone! How are you? How is everyone you know, and those you care about most? Since Mary posted at the end of February about the effects on mothers of the string of closures we… Read More ›

• Getting out the ‘yes’

  By Anna on 2017-10-26 • ( 5 )

  

  This Friday, 27 October is the last day to get our marriage equality postal surveys into the mail to guarantee they will be counted in the tally. Right now, if you are Australian and registered to vote, you will be in… Read More ›

• Let’s have a shameless self-promotion session

  By Anna on 2017-02-21 • ( 6 )

  

  For a short time, Palgrave Macmillan is offering a discount on e-books, which includes mine. So if you’ve ever been curious, but put off by the giddying price, now is the time to grab it. Here’s where you can buy… Read More ›

• 2016 Hoydens: Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher

  By Anna on 2016-12-31 • ( 1 )

  

  When word came through of Carrie Fisher’s heart attack, and then of her death, and almost immediately after that of the death of her mother, Debbie Reynolds many of us felt we had been dealt a particularly harsh blow. No… Read More ›

• BFTP Friday Hoyden: Ching Shih

  By Anna on 2016-11-04

  

  Feminist Frequency in its new series, #OrdinaryWomen: Daring to Defy History, is continuing its run of making awesome little profiles of awesome women who we’ve already profiled here at some time in the distant past. This time it’s nineteenth century… Read More ›

• Quick Hit: Digital Writers’ Festival

  By Anna on 2016-11-01 • ( 1 )

  

  Just started, and running until 11 November. All online. Jane Howard, Michaela McGuire and Kate Callingham are at the helm, and the lineup is amazing. It really is extraordinary how much they’re packing in, it must have been a phenomenal feat of… Read More ›

• BFTP Friday Hoyden: Emma Goldman

  By Anna on 2016-09-16 • ( 1 )

  

  Anita Sarkeesian and Feminist Frequency have launched a terrific new series called #OrdinaryWomen: Daring to Defy History. The first episode is just up, and it’s about legendary political activist Emma Goldman. This makes it seem like a good time to… Read More ›

• BFTP: Funding Humanities Research

  By Anna on 2016-08-25 • ( 2 )

  

  Once again our government, which should be in the business of supporting and promoting the work of our universities and high-end intellectual workers, has chosen to launch an attack on the very concept of employing people to do research in… Read More ›

• The Wrong Conversation? No, Doctors Don’t Need to Mention Weight Loss More

  By Anna on 2016-08-17 • ( 11 )

  

  An article has appeared in today’s Conversation suggesting that doctors need training to feel confident in bringing up their patients’ “excess weight”, so they can broach the topic more, including with patients who have come to see them for something… Read More ›

• Friday Hoyden: Margaret of Anjou

  By Anna on 2016-07-01 • ( 1 )

  

  In the fifteenth century England was governed by a loose association of noble families, led by a King who may or may not have gained his crown as the most direct male descendant of the previous King. The two ways… Read More ›