Q&A: Sarah Jane Barnett
Notes on Womanhood cover image by Henrietta Harris, Fixed It XV1, 2016. Courtesy of the artist and Melanie Roger Gallery.
Poet Sarah Jane Barnett has written a highly anticipated book about what the concept of womanhood means to her. Notes on Womanhood is part memoir, part feminist manifesto, part coming-of-middle-age story. She answers our quick Q&A.
1. How are you and what have you been up to lately?
I’m good, thanks. My family has been sick this week so everything has been a juggle as my son’s been at home. He’s better now and I’ve just dropped him at a friend’s house so I have a few hours to do things. I have a cup of coffee and a mandarin in front of me.
Lately my time has been spent promoting my book and teaching creative writing at Massey. I taught the course for nearly a decade and then took a break, but I’m so glad to be back. The students are talented and hilarious. I also work as a weaver so I’ve been making things out of yarn.
2. If you were working in a bookshop, how would you hand-sell your book to customers? What would you say to convince them to buy and read it?
I would be so awkward at this! I’m never going to be someone who does a hard sell. But I would tell them how writing the book helped me understand my own womanhood and what it means to be a woman entering midlife. And I would answer any questions they had about the book. I really do hope the book will, in some small way, help other women but I’d probably be a rubbish bookseller.
3. What books (or other art/media) influenced you while working on this book, or generally in your life?
Two of the biggest influences on the book and my life are YouTuber Natalie Wynn (aka Contrapoints) and writer and performance artist Alok Vaid-Menon. I have learned so much from them about gender, compassion, grace and self-acceptance. Darcey Steinke’s book Flash Count Diary was something I read early on and while my book is quite different to hers, it helped me believe I could write Notes on Womanhood.
4. What good books have you read lately?
The last novel I read was Entanglement by Bryan Walpert which I loved. It’s such a clever and moving book, and quite funny.
I also just finished two great poetry collections – Requiem for a Fruit by Rachel O’Neill and I Am In Bed With You by Emma Barnes.
But most of my time is spent reading YA out loud to my son. We’re currently reading Dragon Rider: The Aurelia Curse by Cornelia Funke (the third in the series) and it’s so good. Reading to him is one of the greatest pleasures of my life and I will keep on doing it until he asks me to stop!.
Buy Notes on Womanhood (Otago University Press), $30
