The Perils of Musehood

'Two women, a century apart, are stuck in the same hotel room in Paris. One is writing the story of the other...or so she thinks.'

Angela O’Keeffe’s new novel, The Sitter, is inspired by the life of Marie-Hortense Fiquet, the wife of Paul Cezanne. Marie-Hortense posed for dozens of paintings. We know her face, but not her story...

Angela O'Keefe grew up with nine siblings on a farm in the Lockyer Valley, Queensland. She completed a Master of Arts in Writing at UTS, and her first novel, Night Blue, was shortlisted for the UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing and the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards. She was awarded the 2023 Varuna Eleanor Dark Fellowship.

Dr. Lucina Ward is Senior Curator of International Art at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, where her projects include: Love & desire: Pre-Raphaelite masterpieces from Tate (2018–19); American Masters 1940–1980 (2018); and Versailles: Treasures from the Palace (2016–17). She has a particular interest in modern and contemporary sculpture, and also regularly publishes and lectures on many aspects of the NGA collection. Lucina’s doctorate was granted by the Australian National University, and she is also a graduate of the Canberra School of Art and the University of Canberra.

Theodore Ell studied literature and modern languages in Sydney and in Italy. For several years he worked as an editor and translator and co-founded the international journal Contrappasso. From 2018 to 2021 Ell lived in Lebanon, accompanying his wife on a diplomatic posting. Ell’s essay ‘Façades of Lebanon,’ about the Beirut port explosion, won the 2021 Calibre Essay Prize. His poetry collection Beginning in Sight won the 2022 Anne Elder Award. He is an honorary lecturer in literature at the ANU.

This program is presented in partnership with Canberra Writers Festival.