In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Dr Bron Bateman chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while editing and curating Women of a Certain Courage: Life stories from women of all backgrounds about courage.
Women of a Certain Courage
Women of a Certain Courage is an uplifting and at times deeply disturbing collection of 18 stories about women supporting and guiding each other. Each essay showcases the myriad ways women prevail over adversity. These stories of courage include tales of activism, finding a voice, escaping domestic violence, battling and much more.
Courage and the experience of being a woman are often separated in our culture. Bron Bateman set out to create an anthology that shows courage is something that women live, experience and proactively seek every day of their lives. Women of a Certain Courage speaks to the daily injustices and difficulties many women face. Bateman wanted the anthology to share some of these stories and to give other women who read it insights into their own courage as well as that of other women around them.
Diverse Voices
Women of a Certain Courage challenges traditional notions of courage. It poses thoughtful questions such as: What does it mean to be a woman? And what does it mean to struggle while tackling issues such as living with illness, racial injustice and the fight for climate justice? A thought-provoking exploration of resilience in women who live in contemporary Australia, the book invites us into the lives of extraordinary women and the many forms of courage they embody.
Selecting a Diverse Chorus of Voices
Bron Bateman’s approach as editor and curator was defined by intentional choices, from selecting a diverse range of voices to gently shaping each narrative’s form. Her editorial philosophy centres on honouring each woman’s individual story and voice and using her poetic sensibility to create a resonant, flowing collection. Bateman curated a diverse range of voices to enable every reader to find a story that resonates with them.
Honouring Each Woman's Story
From the outset, Bateman deliberately sought out women of varied backgrounds to ensure an inclusive range of experiences. She aimed to represent women facing different challenges, from institutional or personal oppression to illness and environmental crises. For example, Bateman was determined to include Indigenous activist Megan Krakouer’s story. Megan’s opening piece, with its urgent call to arms for social change, sets the framework for the entire collection and exemplifies Bateman’s intent to begin the book with a powerful, paradigm-shifting voice.
Megan Krakouer
Equally, Bateman felt it critically important to include poet Esther Ottaway’s perspective as an autistic woman, a rarely told story, to shed light on women living undiagnosed and the heartache and difficulties they endure in silence. And when it came to stories of trauma, Bateman didn’t shy away: she insisted on including Penny Jane Burke’s searing essay about surviving domestic violence precisely because of how distressing it was. By curating these narratives, Bateman aimed to break silences and honour courage in all its forms.
Penny Jane Burke
Weaving Stories with Poetic Sensibility and Structure
Bateman’s background as a poet quietly underlies the anthology’s tone. She appreciated the imagery, rhythm and emotional beats in each essay, wanting the voices to sing on the page. This poetic sensibility meant encouraging authors to refine language and pacing, enabling readers to feel each story.
Equally important is the curation of the anthology’s narrative flow. Knowing the content ranged from uplifting to intense and heartbreaking stories, Bateman was mindful of readers’ emotional journey. Some pieces were so distressing she had to pause while reading them. To balance this intensity, she carefully sequenced the essays to provide emotional breathing room between the darkest chapters.
Book launch, Subiaco Library
Bateman took an almost tactile approach: she printed out all the essays, spread them on the floor, and walked around them to sense how they fitted together. She shuffled the order repeatedly, searching for thematic connections, complementary voices and a natural ebb and flow in the storytelling. The final arrangement is far more organic than linear. Bateman likens its shape to the curves and dips and rhythms of a woman’s body.
Curating the Stories
Bron Bateman’s editorial and curatorial choices for Women of a Certain Courage reflect a deep respect for storytelling as an act of courage in itself. By thoughtfully choosing diverse contributors, stepping back to let individual voices resonate, infusing the editing process with poetic care, and structuring the anthology with emotional intention, she crafted a collection that is authentic, powerful and cohesive. As she hoped, the book invites readers into a room filled with women’s voices, each distinct, yet together composing a harmonious narrative symphony of courage. Bateman’s humble approach reminds us that an editor’s greatest skill may lie in knowing when to listen and gently guide, so that every story sings in its own true key.
Praise for Women of a Certain Courage
A thought-provoking look at the resilience of women in contemporary Australia.
Books+Publishing
Bron Bateman is a poet, editor, playwright and educator from Boorloo (Perth). Her first poetry collection, People from bones was published by Ragged Raven Press (UK) in 2002. Her PhD, a collection of poetry and an exegesis exploring female embodiment and experiences of motherhood was completed in 2012. Her second collection, Of Memory and Furniture, which was Highly Commended in the Victorian Premier’s Prize for Poetry in 2021, was published by Fremantle Press in 2020. Her third collection, Blue Wren, was published by Fremantle Press in 2022.
Bateman’s work has been published in collections and journals such as Westerly, Southerly, Cordite Poetry Review, and the Australian Poetry Journal. In 2004, she was awarded the Bobbie Cullen Memorial Prize for Creative Writing. In 2017, she received Columbia University’s Winter Poetry Prize and in 2021 and 2024 she was shortlisted and commended for the Tom Collins National Poetry Prize.
Her edited anthology Women of a Certain Courage was published by Fremantle Press in early 2025 and her fourth collection Love Like This Isn’t Harmless was published by Fremantle Press in July 2025.