On Saturday 16 August Jo Skinner, Sarah Todman and I gave an author presentation Feminism is Dead: Or Is It? at Cleveland Library. We got together because each of the heroines in our novels are strong women.

There was a great turn out, the library was pleased and the audience enjoyed us talking about issues associated with equality and prejudice and the pressures our strong heroines face in our very different books. We covered many issues - pressures on women to be twice as good as men in leadership roles, domestic violence and coercion, the emphasis on women's appearance, ageism, impostor syndrome, lack of parity when it comes to opportunities.

I spoke about the tendency to favour male composers in concert programs and how brilliant female performances tend to disappear off the international concert circuit after a certain age. 

Jo, Sarah and I were delighted by the lively debate and interaction with the audience after the session. Click on this link to see a video montage of the event.

Jo Skinner's book, A World of Silence, is a powerful novel about three women who are great friends and one of them is experiencing difficulties on the home front. Won't say more but you can find it here.

Sarah Todman's New Year's Eve is about a young woman who is expected to drop her life and friends and job to return to her parent's pub in a remote country area. Read more about Sarah Todman’s book here.