Eluned Morgan is the first woman to lead Wales.

Before that, she made history as the youngest member of the European Parliament at just 27 years old.

Ahead of International Women’s Day, Julia travelled to Cardiff to sit down with the First Minister in her office.

In this season-opener, they discuss Ms Morgan’s political upbringing, her path to the leadership, building resilience, misogyny on social media, how her faith shapes her politics and her life away from from the public eye.

Show notes:

To learn more about Eluned Morgan and the Welsh Government:

https://www.gov.wales/eluned-morgan-ms

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In the final episode of 2024 Julia sits down with her good friend Josephine Linden to discuss their favourite books of the year, and look ahead to the new releases they can’t wait to read in 2025.

Thank you to all our listeners for joining us again this season, the whole A Podcast of One’s Own team hopes you’ve enjoyed the interviews and book club episodes as much as we have!

Show notes:

Books discussed by Julia and Josephine during this episode include: 

The Enigma of Room 662 by Joel Dicker

The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair by Joel Dicker

The Precipice by Robert Harris 

The Good War of Consul Reeves by Peter Rose

A Memoir of My Former Self by Hilary Mantel

Old Filth Trilogy by Jane Gardam

A Place of Safety by Hilary Mantel

The six books on the Booker Prize Shortlist can be found here: https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/prize-years/2024

Wifedom by Anna Funder

The Fraud by Zadie Smith

On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything by Nate Silver

When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut

Naku Dharuk The Bark Petitions: How the People of Yirrkala Changed the Course of Australian Democracy by Clare Wright

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In this special episode of A Podcast of One’s Own, we take you inside Julia’s live event with international best-selling author, Paula Hawkins, at the Hay Festival Winter Weekend.

After the huge global success of Paula’s first novel ‘The Girl on the Train’, the pair sat down to explore her latest thriller ‘The Blue Hour’.

Set on a Scottish tidal island connected to the mainland for just a few hours a day and home to only one inhabitant, the novel asks questions about ambition, power, art and perception.

Julia also asks Paula about her literary career to date and future works.

Show notes:

The Blue Hour is published by Penguin and available at all good book stores.

https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-blue-hour-9781529938074

To learn more about the Hay Festival, visit https://www.hayfestival.com/home

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Dr June Oscar AO is a is a proud Bunuba woman from the remote town of Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia’s Kimberley region.

Her remarkable decades-long career has taken her from a small office in a cattle station in a tiny Western Australian town, to serving a five-year term as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner. June was the first woman to hold this role in its 20-year history and used her position to advocate for, and empower, indigenous women and girls across Australia. The story of how she got there and all the change she has achieved along the way is truly inspiring.

Today, June continues to champion the rights of First Nations women and girls through the new First Nations Gender Justice Institute, based at the Australian National University.

In this episode, June takes Julia through this remarkable journey. They discuss June's legacy as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner and her ongoing work with the incredible Wiyi Yani U Thangani (Women’s Voices) project at the First Nations Gender Justice Institute.

• Learn more about the Wiyi Yani U Thangani Institute for First Nations Gender Justice: https://wiyiyaniuthangani.humanrights.gov.au/first-nations-gender-justice-institute

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Angie Murimirwa personifies the transformative power of education.

Growing up in Zimbabwe, Angie was one of the first girls to receive support from the Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED) to go to secondary school.

Angie is now the organisation’s CEO.

In this episode Julia - who is Patron of CAMFED - and Angie discuss the huge barriers to education that many girls still face, and the impact finishing school has on not only an individual, but also their family and community.

They also talk about the alumni association Angie helped set up, that’s now several hundred-thousand women strong and has become a powerful network of women leaders across Africa.

Show notes:

You can learn more about CAMFED and how you can support its efforts here - https://camfed.org/aus/

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It’s been arguably the most eventful US Presidential campaign in history and the stakes couldn’t be higher, not just for the United States, but for the world.

There’s been two assassination attempts on Republican nominee Donald Trump, who became the first US President to be convicted of a felony over hush money payments to an adult film star.

We've seen President and Democratic nominee Joe Biden sensationally withdraw from the race after the most disastrous presidential debate performance in history and replaced by America’s first woman of colour to run for the White House, Vice President Kamala Harris.

In this special US election episode, Julia sits down with American political analyst, Amy Walter from The Cook Political Report, for a deep dive on each swing state, the current state of play, how gender and reproductive rights are influencing the campaign and what we can expect when voters head to the polls on November 5.

Show notes:

To learn more about the electoral college ratings, go to: https://centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/2024-president/

To learn more about the states where abortion is on the ballot, go to:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/abortion-ballot-measures/

Bruce Wolpe is an expert on US and Australian politics, having worked in the US Congress during President Barack Obama's first term and as a senior advisor to A Podcast of One’s Own host, Julia Gillard, when she was Prime Minister. His book, Trump’s Australia, is published by Allen & Unwin:

https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Bruce-Wolpe-Trump's-Australia-9781761068096

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In this episode of Julia’s Book Club, Julia and co-host Sarah Holland-Batt delve into the latest novel by best-selling author, Elif Shafak. There are Rivers in the Sky charts the story of three characters from across history brought together by two great rivers, with one epic poem flowing through the story. Spanning centuries and continents, the novel follows a single drop of water from the Tigris to the Thames, from antiquity to the 19th century to the modern day.

While exploring the rich histories laid out in the novel, Julia and Sarah also consider its central question – how does history get told, and who gets to tell it? They also reflect on Shafak's exploration of global inequalities across the novel – from the poverty of a class-divided Victorian London, to the far more recent persecution of the Yazidi people (and especially the women) in war-ravaged Iraq, to the impacts of climate change on the fragile ecosystems of rivers like the Tigris and the Thames.

If the name Elif Shafak sounds familiar, that's because we were lucky enough to have her join us on the podcast back in August. If you've not heard it yet, you can catch up with that interview here, or find it wherever you're listening to this episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/elif-shafak-on-the-power-of-storytelling/id1466658814?i=1000666169272.

If you'd like to learn more about Gilgamesh, the epic poem that plays a central role in this novel, and the real-life figure of George Smith who inspired the character Arthur Smyth, you can read Gilgamesh: A New Translation of the Ancient Epic by Sophus Helle.

There are Rivers in the Sky is published by Penguin Australia and is available at all good bookstores.

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Alexis Wright is one of the most highly-regarded Australian authors in recent times, winning both the Miles Franklin Literary Award and the Stella Prize - twice.

Her work is challenging the traditional publishing world and asking some tough questions.

But her passions extend far beyond writing.

In this episode, Julia explores Alexis’ early beginnings as a young activist, her lifelong dedication to Indigenous land rights and her concerns around global warming, as well as her literary success.

Show notes:

Alexis’ latest novel Praiseworthy is published by Giramondo and is available at all good book stores.

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In this episode of Julia's Book Club, Julia and Kathy Lette sit down to discuss Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors.

Blue Sisters is the second novel from Mellors, following her bestselling debut Cleopatra and Frankenstein. It tells the story of three very different sisters – strait-laced lawyer Avery, party girl Lucky and stoic world champion boxer Bonnie – who are torn apart by grief and scattered to different corners of the globe after the sudden tragic death of their fourth sister, Nicky.

As the sisters try to come to terms with this devastating loss, the book explores the bonds of sisterhood, how grief changes us and the ways that addiction manifests between generations.

Julia and Kathy unpack these central themes of grief, sisterhood and addiction, and delve into the book's exploration of motherhood. Why do some women choose, or not choose to have children, what happens when that choice is taken away, and how much do our own mothers shape us?

Shownotes

• Blue Sisters is published by HarperCollins and is available at all good bookstores: https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9780008623012/blue-sisters/
• CW: This episode covers themes of addiction, and reproductive health, and parts of this conversation may be distressing for some listeners. If this brings up anything for you, help is available by contacting the 24-hour national counselling service 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732. You can also contact the Alcohol Drug Information Service (ADIS) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on 1800 250 015.

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Elif Shafak is a best selling author, a political scientist and an advocate for women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights and freedom of expression.

In this episode Julia and Elif journey on a candid and deep conversation about Elif’s childhood in Turkey, what drew her to writing, and the lengths she’s had to go to keep telling the stories of those who are often silenced.

They also delve into Elif’s spectacular new novel There are Rivers in the Sky, and discuss why tackling the world’s water crisis is critical for the safety of women and girls.

Show notes:

Elif’s new novel There are Rivers in the Sky is published by Penguin and is available at all good book stores.

To learn more about Elif and her work go to https://www.elifsafak.com.tr/home

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