Hecate Press Hecate Press i(A38359 works by) (Organisation) assertion (a.k.a. Hecate)
Born: Established: 1975 ;
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1 10 y separately published work icon Hecate Carole Ferrier (editor), Carole Ferrier (editor), Jane Sunderland (editor), Carole Ferrier (editor), Bronwen Levy (editor), Cecily Critchley (editor), Carole Ferrier (editor), Bronwen Levy (editor), 1975 Brisbane : Hecate Press , Z939879 1975 periodical (80 issues)

In the early 1970s as feminist movements began to gain momentum there were very few forums to conduct serious debate on issues affecting Australian women. Aiming to address this problem, Carole Ferrier established Hecate in 1975, the International Women's Year. As a title, Hecate (the goddess invoked by women who desired freedom from male tyranny) clearly asserts the aims of the journal. The journal's editorial policy was made clear in the first issue: 'As feminists and socialists, we view this journal as a means of providing a forum for discussing, at a fairly theoretical level, issues relating to the liberation of women.'

Since then, Hecate has played a significant part in the development of feminist criticism in Australia by challenging the 'institution' of criticism and reassessing the historical record from a feminist perspective. Early issues frequently examined canonical texts, but this led to the 'recovery' of forgotten writers like Lesbia Harford and Marie Pitt. Following the publication of New French Feminisms (1980), Hecate published a collection of responses in 1981 that attempted to better define Australian feminism. As more book-length publications on feminist issues appeared in the 1980s, Hecate became a site of significant dialogue with important essays by Sneja Gunew, Louise Adler, Bronwen Levy, Marion Aveling and Susan Sheridan.

Hecate continues to publish articles from a range of disciplines on topics such as race, class, and literary and feminist politics. The selection of poetry and fiction reflects the diversity of female experience in Australia, giving voice to many women, including migrant and Aboriginal writers. Despite a short period in the 1990s when funding from the Literature Board was suspended, Hecate has endured, making it one of the longest running feminist journals in the world.

1 2 y separately published work icon Hibiscus and Ti-Tree : Women in Queensland Carole Ferrier (editor), Deborah Jordan (editor), St Lucia : Hecate Press , 2009 Z1667148 2009 anthology criticism short story poetry
1 y separately published work icon Australian Women's Book Review AWBR vol. 13 no. 1 Carole Ferrier (editor), Shirley Tucker (editor), Susan Carson (editor), St Lucia : Hecate Press , 2001 Z911314 2001 periodical issue
1 3 y separately published work icon Australian Women's Book Review AWBR Sara White (editor), Michelle De Kretser (editor), Barbara Brook (editor), Michèle Grossman (editor), Barbara Brook (editor), Carole Ferrier (editor), Susan Carson (editor), Shirley Tucker (editor), Carole Ferrier (editor), 1989 Melbourne : Australian Women's Book Review , 1989-1992 Z911078 1989 periodical (62 issues)

Before the establishment of the Australian Women's Book Review, new books on feminist issues from small presses were mainly reviewed by a few small magazines such as Hecate. In the established literary magazines or other mainstream publications such books were reviewed inadequately or not at all. In 1989, hoping to provide a stable periodical for a more comprehensive review of new women's writing from Australia and overseas, Sara White and Michelle de Kretser produced the first issues of the Australian Women's Book Review.

From the first issues, the editors aimed to publish 'accessible, intelligent writing that will offer a range of books by women to a broad readership'. Reviews addressed a range of general areas such as fiction, poetry, history, biography, health, sexuality, social and cultural issues, and literature for children and adolescents. Regular review essays and feature articles provided deeper analyses and special issues have concentrating on geographical regions such as New Zealand, India, Africa and Singapore.

During the 1990s, the Australian Women's Book Review secured several advertisers and sponsors to support production costs and provide payment to contributors. The magazine's publication by the Victoria University of Technology (1992-1997) also provided some security, but the failure of an application to the Literature Board in 1997 caused some concern for the future of the magazine. Closure was avoided when Carole Ferrier offered to publish the Australian Women's Book Review under the auspices of Hecate at the University of Queensland.

Since moving to the University of Queensland, the Australian Women's Book Review has gone online (in 2000) and is now freely available on the internet. It remains the only Australian book review in print or online that is devoted to women's writing.

1 5 y separately published work icon Paradise Flow Jean Devanny , Carole Ferrier (editor), St Lucia : Hecate Press , 1985 Z467271 1985 single work drama
1 1 y separately published work icon Memories of an Australian Girlhood Eileen Haley , Lillian Rosser , St Lucia : Hecate Press , 1982 Z167957 1982 selected work short story
1 2 y separately published work icon Hecate's Daughters Carole Ferrier (editor), Brisbane : Hecate Press , 1978 Z292046 1978 anthology
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