{"id":4848,"date":"2022-06-21T16:22:23","date_gmt":"2022-06-21T05:52:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/?p=4848"},"modified":"2022-06-21T16:23:15","modified_gmt":"2022-06-21T05:53:15","slug":"launching-edwina-preston-bad-art-mother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/2022\/06\/launching-edwina-preston-bad-art-mother\/","title":{"rendered":"Launching Edwina Preston’s BAD ART MOTHER"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Edwina Preston’s Bad Art Mother<\/a><\/em> blends wit and pathos, love and fury, ambition and loss. A portrait of bohemian 1960s Melbourne, the novel is a \u2018love song to Melbourne set during the cultural transitions of the post war period\u2019.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The novel centres on frustrated poet Veda Gray, who is offered a Faustian bargain when a wealthy, childless couple invite her to exchange her young son Owen for time to write. Veda struggles with her decision, and against the patriarchal society in which she lives, while also asking herself: what kind of mother would give up her child?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The launch of Bad Art Mother<\/em> at Melbourne’s Readings Bookshop in Carlton was a resounding success last month. Read on for words from launcher Janine Burke and Literary Agent Jenny Darling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Banner image: Die H\u00e4mische (detail), Egon Schiele<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

More than 80 people crowded into the iconic Readings Bookshop in Carlton last month for the launch of Edwina Preston\u2019s new novel Bad Art Mother<\/a><\/em>. In her introductory welcome, Jenny Darling, Literary Agent, declared Bad Art Mother to be \u2018the best book about Melbourne since Monkey Grip<\/em>\u2019.\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Jenny<\/figure>
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Official launcher, art historian, biographer and novelist Janine Burke concurred, describing how elegantly the novel is structured (told in part by poet Veda Gray\u2019s son Owen, and through Veda\u2019s own letters to her sister, Tilde) and how it draws upon layers of rich history of Melbourne\u2019s cultural life, describing\u00a0how Veda Gray finds herself in a marginalised position \u2013 unlike Joy Hester or Sunday Reed or Mirka Mora \u2013 not\u00a0belonging\u00a0anywhere. Not with her family. Not\u00a0within the literary community. Not within her husband\u2019s community.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Above: Jenny Darling and Edwina Preston <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In her launch speech Janine also drew attention to the marvellous cover of Bad Art Mother<\/em> \u2013 the half-naked woman by the Viennese painter Egon Schiele, titled The Malicious Woman<\/em> \u2013saying Veda Gray is an illustration of thwarted female creative drive, which in Edwina Preston\u2019s hands, becomes an urgent, energetic and compelling force. Like The Malicious Woman<\/em>, Veda Gray is not traditionally feminine: she mouths off, she is impatient, she is in many ways scary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Edwina<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Bad<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Above: Edwina signs copies of Bad Art Mother at Readings Carlton<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Bad Art Mother<\/em> will be launched by Mark Mordue at Sydney’s Petty Cash Cafe at 6.00 pm on Thursday 23 June. The launch will feature a special performance by DUET (Harry Howard and Edwina Preston). <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Maxine<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Above: Edwina Preston (middle) poses with Maxine Pryce and legendary Australian musician Kim Salmon at the launch afterparty,
held at PrestonZly Design in Carlton\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Praise for\u00a0Bad Art Mother<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

‘Sublimely written,\u00a0Bad Art Mother<\/em>\u00a0is a dual narrative told from two perspectives: Veda and her son Owen. It immerses the reader so completely, one might feel as though they have stepped into a time machine. Between Veda\u2019s letters to her sister and Owen\u2019s recounting of events, the reader is held voyeuristically spellbound, wondering whose is the truer version of the story. Preston offers a vivid, fierce and intelligent commentary on the lives of creative women in a rapidly shifting cultural landscape still rigidly controlled by “the boys club”.’ \u2013 Tye Cattenach, Readings<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘I adore Edwina Preston’s Veda Gray. This is a magnificent panorama of a novel, written with an assured verve, that encompasses art and feminism, love and marriage, and makes us believe we are right there, at the very heart of a transformative moment in culture when everything is about to change. There is anger here, as there must be when telling the story of how women have been silenced in the world \u2013 but there is also a scrupulous empathy for every character: this is a humane and tender work. The conception is daring, yet Preston has the confidence and talent and assuredness as a writer to never stumble in the storytelling. I was never less than enthralled.’ \u2013 Christos Tsiolkas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Edwina Preston’s Bad Art Mother blends wit and pathos, love and fury, ambition and loss. A portrait of bohemian 1960s Melbourne, the novel is a \u2018love song to Melbourne set during the cultural transitions of the post war period\u2019. The … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[40],"class_list":["post-4848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-for-fun","tag-book-launch"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4v1Of-1gc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4848"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4855,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4848\/revisions\/4855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}