HAGS

60 mins

29 Apr 2023

SHARON BLACKIE & VICTORIA SMITH

Two trenchant women writers tackle the thorny subject of the second half of life, asking why women over 40 are so often overlooked, disdained or vilified. From witch hunts to today’s ‘Karens’: why is this group so prone to being ignored, pitied or abused, or seen as a threat? Victoria Smith’s Hags is a ferocious counter-argument to the demonisation of middle-aged women, while Sharon Blackie’s Hagitude reclaims these years as a liberating, alchemical moment. She finds a perverse pleasure, as well as a sense of rightness and beauty, in insisting on flowering just when the world expects you to become quiet and diminish. Join them to explore the history, and radical, fulfilling future for women in their mid and elder years.

Sharon and Victoria will be interviewed by Sarah Ditum.