In A Room of One's Own, Virginia Woolf imagines that Shakespeare had a sister. A sister equal to Shakespeare in talent, and equal in genius, but whose legacy is radically different. This imaginary woman never writes a word and dies by her own hand, her genius unexpressed. If only she had found the means to create, argues Woolf, she would have reached the same heights as her immortal sibling.

Gender Trouble Down Under takes up the 'Oz bloke' hypermasculine, heterosexual fantasy and shows to what extent this sexual, gender and national stereotype is odd, partial and exclusionary, in a word, queer. (Back cover)

The clarion call to change that galvanized a generation. When Germaine Greer's The Female Eunuch was first published it created a shock wave of recognition in women, one that could be felt around the world.

Women writers have long been slighted in standard bibliographies, directories, and literary histories. This unique volume--the first fully international biographical and topical guide to women writers--redresses a long-standing inequity. Biographical entries of women writers outline their life and work, also setting each in the context of her time and makes clear her interest today.