about all about women
11 – 13 mar 2023
Sydney Opera House's All About Women (AAW) celebrates extraordinary thinkers, writers and artists, and poses vital questions about gender, equality and justice. In 2023, AAW enters its second decade with a program co-curated by Jamila Rizvi (she/her), Dr Amy Thunig (she/they), Jane Caro (she/her), and the Sydney Opera House Talks and Ideas team, led by Chip Rolley (he/him). Together they have created a lively and inclusive program to engage the curiosity of AAW's audience of women and gender diverse people, and their allies.
The 11th festival honours women and girls who fight to be heard – from protesters in Iran, to pro-choicers in the US, to advocates everywhere who defend the silenced. We'll explore friendship, family, and romance. We'll cross cultures, genders and generations to learn what community means. We'll find our voice, but we'll also learn to listen. The line-up features a mix of international and local speakers, appearing in person on the stages of the iconic Sydney Opera House.
Experience the festival in person at Sydney Opera House, or join us online via our livestream program.
our co-curators
Chip Rolley
Chip Rolley was appointed as Sydney Opera House’s Head of Talks & Ideas in 2021. He has been the artistic director of Sydney Writers’ Festival, and director of PEN America’s World Voices Festival in New York. He oversaw the prestigious PEN Literary Awards and a slate of literary programs that engaged traditionally underserved participants and audiences. He has edited the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s opinion and news analysis website, The Drum.
His writing has appeared in The Guardian (US), Wall Street Journal, Griffith Review, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, Vogue, Rolling Stone and he has translated writing from Chinese to English.
Jamila Rizvi
Jamila Rizvi is Deputy Managing Director of Future Women. She is a best-selling author for adults and children, a columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald and co-host of The Briefing podcast.
Jamila previously advised the Australian Government on gender equality, childcare, media, and employment. She has been named in the Australian Financial Review’s 100 Women of Influence and is a 2020 Women and Leadership Australia award winner. Jamila is a board member of the Wheeler Centre, and an ambassador for PLAN International and the Royal Melbourne Hospital Neuroscience Foundation.
She lives and works on Wurundjeri country.
Dr Amy Thunig
Dr Amy Thunig (B.Arts, M.Teach, PhD) is a Gomeroi/Gamilaroi/Kamilaroi yinarr (woman) and mother who resides on Awabakal Country.
A full-time academic in the field of education, Amy is also an author, with her first book 'Tell Me Again' released in November 2022 via UQP.
Amy is a Director at Story Factory in Redfern, on various committees and councils including the AECG, and a media commentator and panellist, regularly appearing on television programs such as ABC’s The Drum.
Jane Caro
Jane Caro AM is a Walkley Award winning columnist, author, novelist, broadcaster, documentary maker, feminist and social commentator. She spent 35 years as an award winning copywriter and 7 years teaching Advertising Creative in the School of Communication Arts at Western Sydney University. These days she is a full time writer, social commentator, speaker and broadcaster.
She has published thirteen books, including three YA novels Just a Girl, Just a Queen and Just Flesh & Blood - a trilogy on Elizabeth Tudor, a memoir Plain Speaking Jane and Accidental Feminists about the life story of women over 50. Her latest book, her first novel for adults, The Mother, is a bestseller.
She appears frequently on ABC Western Plains, The Drum & Today Extra. She created and presented 5 documentary series for ABC Compass, airing in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. She writes a regular column in Nine Media and her opinion pieces and articles appear frequently in The Saturday Paper, The Guardian and The Big Smoke.
She is on the board of The Public Education Foundation.