'Good mothers are expected to be selfless. Artists are seen as selfish. So what does this mean for a mother with artistic ambitions?
'Enter: frustrated poet Veda Gray, who is offered a Faustian bargain when a wealthy childless couple, the Parishes, invite her to exchange her young son Owen for time to write.
'Veda's story unfolds as an adult Owen reflects on his boyhood in the Melbourne suburbs, and in the vibrant bohemian inner-city art world where his restaurateur father was a king. Meanwhile, the talented women in his orbit - Veda, Mrs Parish, wife of an influential poet, muralist and restaurant worker Rosa - push against gender expectations to be recognised as legitimate artists, by their intimates and the wider world. And almost-aunt Ornella, who declares herself without an artistic bone in her body, is perhaps the closest thing Owen has to a traditional mother. As Owen is encouraged to 'be a man', he loses something of himself, too.
'Blending wit and pathos, love and fury, ambition and loss, this is an extraordinary novel of love and art, set in the Melbourne milieu of Georges and Mirka Mora, Joy Hester, and John and Sunday Reed.' (Publication summary)
Edwina Preston for The Stella Shortlist
Astrid Edwards
(interviewer),
2023
26204510
2023
single work
podcast
interview
'Am I a good mother or a bad mother? This question inflects my perception of each day, of my every action and every word as they steadily accumulate into the imago I hold of myself as a mother. Healthy snacks: good. Screen time: bad. Embraces: good. Snapping, shouting, screaming: bad bad bad.' (Introduction)
'A split-perspective exploration of societal hostility towards maternal creativity.'
(Introduction)
'Edwina Preston’s second novel conjures a rich portrait of the artist as a young woman.'
'In 1961, fed up with being ignored, poet Gwen Harwood sent two acrostic sonnets to The Bulletin under a male pseudonym, spelling out: “so long bulletin”, “fuck all editors”. The scandal made headlines – not only because The Bulletin was duped, but because a woman dared to use such an obscenity. Harwood’s recollection that one friend declared her “cut off from decent motherhood” inspired Edwina Preston’s latest novel, Bad Art Mother.' (Introduction)
'Gwen Harwood is one of Australia’s finest poets. Her poetry is studied in secondary schools across the nation. While she remains largely unknown internationally, her poetry and letters continue to excite and inspire readers 27 years after her death.'
(Introduction)
'Am I a good mother or a bad mother? This question inflects my perception of each day, of my every action and every word as they steadily accumulate into the imago I hold of myself as a mother. Healthy snacks: good. Screen time: bad. Embraces: good. Snapping, shouting, screaming: bad bad bad.' (Introduction)
Edwina Preston for The Stella Shortlist
Astrid Edwards
(interviewer),
2023
26204510
2023
single work
podcast
interview
