Women Writers Fund
The Women Writers Fund is a pioneering new fund that seeks to redress the historical gender imbalance in State Library Victoria's collection by acquiring works by under-represented 19th and 20th-century women writers.
Although State Library Victoria holds an extraordinarily rich collection, it's clear from consulting early library catalogues that patriarchal perspectives on collecting have resulted in the systemic under-representation of women writers.
The work of the Women Writers Fund will give future generations access to more diverse and representative voices from different times, cultures and disciplines.
The Women Writers Fund will also support the creation of an ongoing program of events to inform and inspire today's young people by shining a light on women's intellectual and creative endeavours from the past.
To date, the fund has enabled the Library to purchase more than 100 significant texts by female authors, including a first edition of Institutions de physique (1740) by Emilie du Chatelet, a complete run of the short-lived suffragette and socialist journal Germinal (1923-24) edited by Sylvia Pankhurst, a third edition of Frankenstein (1832) by Mary Shelley. But there are hundreds more to pursue.
Your support will enable us to acquire a world-class collection of 19th and 20th-century works by women writers and ensure that these voices aren't lost to history.
The Women Writers Fund was co-founded by Krystyna Campbell-Pretty AM and Helen Sykes and endowed by the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust.