This year we are marking International Women’s Day by looking at the arts, and the difficulties that women have experienced in receiving the recognition and success that they deserve in the creative industries.

We will hear from our three speakers:

Jenny Éclair
Internationally successful stand up comedian and novelist, Jenny was the first woman to win the Perrier Award at Edinburgh in 1995. Jenny has written and performed on stage and TV worldwide and has written 4 best selling novels. Jenny has been outspoken about the gender inequality within the comedy world.

Elizabeth Gilmore
Director, Jerwood Gallery Hastings
Elizabeth will talk about some aspects relating to gender within the visual arts with special reference to couples who are both artists such as Jean Cooke and John Bratby, and Paul Rego and Victor Willing, as well as the unusual case of Rose Wylie whose work came into prominence when she was in her mid-70s.

Professor Gail Cunningham
Emeritus Professor of English
University of Kingston
Gail has written extensively on women writers of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. She will talk about the ways in which women writers broke new ground by writing explicitly in women’s voices and on women’s issues, and how this was deeply disturbing to both male and female readers.

This event is free and open to all. Booking is required. Refreshments will be served from 17:00, the talk will begin at 17:30.