International Women's Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. In celebration, we have selected some of our favourite inspirational Australian female authors and the books they’ve written about the women who inspired them.
Published 26 February 2025
Miss Franklin : How Miles Franklin's Brilliant Career Began
by Libby Hathorn
Miss Franklin tells the tale of iconic Australian writer Stella Miles Franklin's brief but formative time as a governess in rural NSW. Struggling with her duties, she meets a young orphan girl who ignites Farnkiln's journey toward independence and her literary dreams. Based on real events, this illustrated book by Libby Hathorn and Phil Lesnie celebrates Franklin's early inspirations."
The Spare Room
by Helen Garner
The Spare Room by Helen Garner is a powerful story of kindness, humour and rage. When Helen takes in her terminally ill friend Nicola, she becomes both caretaker and critic, navigating the tension between hope and reality. With compassion and wit, the story builds to a heartbreaking yet transcendent conclusion.
One Life : My Mother's Story
by Kate Grenville
One Life tells the extraordinary story of Grenville's mother, Nance Gee, a woman whose life spanned a century of turmoil and change. In many ways, Nance's story echoes that of many mothers and grandmothers, for whom the shifts of the 20th century offered new freedoms and choices. In other ways Nance was exceptional. In an era when women were expected to have no ambitions beyond the domestic, she ran successful businesses as a registered pharmacist, laid the bricks for the family home, and discovered her husband's secret revolutionary life. In this intimate and moving tribute, Kate Grenville honours her mother’s resilience and ambition.
Nine Perfect Strangers
by Liane Moriarty
The retreat at the health and wellness resort Tranquillum House promises total transformation. Nine stressed city dwellers are keen to drop their literal and mental baggage and absorb the meditative ambience while enjoying their hot stone massages. Watching over them is the resort's director, a woman on a mission to reinvigorate their tired minds and bodies. These nine perfect strangers have no idea what is about to hit them.
March
by Geraldine Brooks
A historical novel and love story set during a time of catastrophe, on the front lines of the American Civil War. From Louisa May Alcott's beloved classic Little Women, Brooks retells the story from the point of view of the absent father character and conjures a world of brutality, stubborn courage and transcendent love.
Carpentaria
by Alexis Wright
Set in the precariously settled coastal town of Desperance, Carpentaria follows the powerful Phantom family, led by Norm Phantom— legendary storyteller, great fish embalming king of time, suspected murderer, and leader of the Pricklebush people. The Phantoms fight to retain sovereignty over a country where 'legends and ghosts live side by side', but sovereignty depends on stories, and the official version of the region's history mentions nothing. Old tribal tensions resurface, and the battle for ownership becomes a search for lost ancestral stories. Alexis Wright’s epic novel is a sweeping tale of resistance, identity, and the enduring power of storytelling.
The Weekend
by Charlotte Wood
Three women in their 70s - bruised by life, discarded by society, bursting with anger - reunite for one last, life-changing weekend. Fraying tempers, an elderly dog, unwelcome guests and too much wine collide in a storm that brings long-buried hurts to the surface - a storm that will either remind them of the bond they share or sweep away their friendship for good.
Too Much Lip
by Melissa Lucashenko
Wise-cracking Kerry Salter has spent a lifetime avoiding two things - her hometown and prison. But now her Pop is dying and she's an inch away from the lockup, so she takes a Harley and heads south to Durrongo. Kerry's plan is to spend 24 hours, tops, over the border. She quickly discovers, though, that Bundjalung country has a funny way of grabbing onto people. Old family wounds open as the Salters battle to stop the development of their beloved river. And the unexpected arrival on the scene of a good-looking dugai fella intent on loving her up only adds more trouble - but then trouble is Kerry's middle name.
No Ceiling : A Woman's Inspirational Journey to the Top of the World
by Heather Swan
No Ceiling tells the inspirational story of how Heather crashed through her real and imagined barriers to become a world record-setting and powerful athlete at the absolute peak of her sport.