It’s that time of the week again, and we’ve been busy pulling together the latest books, podcasts, audiobooks and must-watch shows for you to make your way through over the weekend. (We know you can do it).
This week, we’re looking a salacious and saucy new story from New York, an epic TV series with the country’s strongest women at the fore, and we discover the harrowing and resilient stories from the magnificently edited anthology ‘Growing up Disabled in Australia.’
Thanks to our partner, Scribd for supporting this feature.
Listen: Kaitlyn Greenidge – ‘Orgy‘
As strong, independent women, don’t we all want to read about a defiant, unapologetic female protagonist?
We find all of that in Kaitlyn Greenidge’s ‘Orgy,’ which follows the story of Nessa, a strong, voracious young woman living in New York City. It’s 2020 and the pandemic is flattening her life, as it is for those around her. But one day, when she receives an invitation for a party titled ‘orgy’, she knows things are about to change.
Finally, a place for her to escape her lockdown misery. At the party, everything sparkles alive again. Nessa bumps into old lovers, rekindles friendships from college, and meets luscious new people whose bodies might want more than just a dance on the dance floor.
Here’s a story that collectively combines our feelings of remorse, fantasy and hope for the world post-pandemic. Nessa’s wild, fun-filled night might just spur on some deep-seated insecurities for the young millennial.
Kaitlyn Greenidge’s latest work is released as a Scribd Original, an exclusive platform featuring ambitious, original fiction and nonfiction. These vivid, compelling stories, which can often be read in just a few hours, span a range of genres, including narrative journalism, literary fiction, memoir, thrillers, mysteries, true crime, sci-fi, and narrative history.
Listen to it read here as an audiobook on Scribd.
Read: ‘Growing Up Disabled in Australia‘, edited by Carly Findlay OAM
One in five Australians has a disability, and disability presents itself in many ways. Yet disabled people are still underrepresented in the media and in literature. And so many of us don’t understand its complexities — how it interacts with varying identities, our race, our class, our background, our gender.
In Growing Up Disabled in Australia – compiled by writer and appearance activist Carly Findlay OAM – more than forty writers with a disability or chronic illness share their stories candidly, in their own words. Each essay is illuminating in its own unique way. Contributors include senator Jordon Steele-John, Paralympian Isis Holt, Dion Beasley, Sam Drummond, Astrid Edwards, Sarah Firth, El Gibbs, Eliza Hull, Gayle Kennedy, Carly-Jay Metcalfe, Fiona Murphy, Jessica Walton and many more.
This collection of stories will help us all better understand disability.
“The common themes I’ve seen are the way disabled people have been stuck in and betrayed by the medical system” Findlay wrote of this book. “Often given false hopes and seen as a zoo exhibit; the way disability and chronic illness intersect; finding disability pride (or rejecting the term “disability’); and also the medical traumas, horrific abuse and near death experiences many disabled people have endured.”
Each writer expresses their stories with searing candour, warmth, and humanity. An incredible must-read for every Australian in 2021.
Read it as an ebook, here on Scribd.
Binge: Strong Women: streaming on ABC iView
Streaming on ABC iView from August 1, Strong Women is a four-part documentary series which follows four Aussie women vying to be crowned Australia’s Strongest Woman in the sport of Strongman.
Mariko Whyte, Kerryn Siems, Alira Verity and Leigh Holland-Keen share their personal stories, giving us a rare glimpse into the world of body-building.
Strongman is a niche sport with limited mainstream media attention that has, until recently, only featured alpha males.
These four women have had to do a lot to get to where they are today — rebuilding themselves inside and out, after challenging experiences with domestic violence, bullying, addictions and eating disorders.
Since 2015 the number of women competing has increased by 500 percent in Australia.
The series, co-created by two emerging Australian film-makers, Corinne Innes and Alexandra Gaulupeau and co-produced by Ann Megalla, was funded by Screen Australia, the ABC & Film Victoria.
“This documentary will help make a true impact on the welfare and positive health of women globally, encouraging women to build confidence, participate in physical activity, boost self-esteem and positive body image and open meaningful conversations about mental health,” said documentary co-creators Corinne Innes and Alexandra Gaulupeau. ‘Our supplementary social impact campaign will amplify this message’.
Watch this inspirational series now, on ABC iView.
