Lin Van Hek (aka Lyn van Hecke, born Lyn Whitehead) is an Australian writer, singer, painter, designer and artist. She was a vice-president of the Society of Women Writers and co-founder of the literary-music group Difficult Women.
Lin Van Hek | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Occupation(s) | Artist, musician |
| Website | www |
Early life
editVan Hek was born in Melbourne and lived in Europe and India while she was growing up.
Career
editVan Hek co-wrote and sang the song "Intimacy" for the soundtrack of the film The Terminator (1984).[1] She later recorded a solo CD River of Life featuring songs of New Zealand writer Kath Tait. More recently, she has performed with her partner, Joe Dolce in Difficult Women, that began with a series of feminist literary salons van Hek held in the 1980s.[2]
Van Hek also worked for over two decades with a group of women in North Vietnam designing, manufacturing and trading in hand-embroidered silk garments and textiles with a focus on fair trade and worker ethics.[3]
Van Hek is a prolific painter and writer. She is described by Booker Prize-winning author Keri Hulme as writing "like an angel giving the devil her due."[4]
Awards
edit- 1988 winner of the Melbourne The Age Short Story Award
- 2015 Best Australian Poems, edited by Geoff Page.
- 2016 & 2017 winner of the Society of Women Writers short story contest.
Bibliography
editNovels
edit- The Hanging Girl (Misfit Books, 1988)
- The Ballad of Siddy Church (Spinifex, 1997)
- Katherine Mansfield's Black Paper Fan (Difficult Women, 2010)
Short fiction
edit- Collections
- The Slain Lamb Stories (Independent, 1979)
- Anna's Box : selected short stories (Difficult Women, 2006)
- Stories
| Title | Year | First published | Reprinted/collected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mrs Black | 2003 | Van Hek, Lin (2003). "Cat Tales: The Meaning of Cats in Women's Lives". Spinifex Press. | ||
| The Goddess Paddock | 2004 | Van Hek, Lin (2004). "Horse Dreams: The Meaning of Horses in Women's Lives". Spinifex Press. | ||
| This Most Privileged of Madnesses | 2013 | Van Hek, Lin (May 2013). "This Most Privileged of Madnesses". Quadrant. | ||
| Mikel’s Christmas | 2017 | Van Hek, Lin (June 2017). "Mikel's Christmas". Quadrant. | ||
| Mrs Black | 2017 | Van Hek, Lin (December 2017). "Mrs Black". Quadrant. |
Book reviews
edit| Year | Review article | Work(s) reviewed |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Van Hek, Lin (January–February 2018). "Poetry of wildness". Quadrant. 62 (1–2 [543]): 85–86. | Petit, Pascale (2017). Mama Amazonica. Bloodaxe. |
References
edit- ^ Sommerlad, Joe (1 July 2019). "SONY WALKMAN AT 40: HOW THE MILLION-SELLING GADGET TOOK MUSIC PORTABLE AND INSPIRED THE MIXTAPE". The Independent. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
- ^ Talbot, Danielle (17 February 1995). "Difficult Women Have Their Day". The Age. Melbourne, Australia. p. 18.
- ^ staff. "Lin van Hek profile". Society of Women Writers: Victoria. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
- ^ staff (1997). "The Ballad of Siddy Church". Feminist Bookstore News. 20: 104.