About
Helen Hagemann lives in Perth, Western Australia. She was born in Sydney and grew up on the Central Coast of New South Wales. She won a Macquarie Longlines/Varuna poetry scholarship in 2008, has spent time in overseas writing residencies and has been accepted into two writing residencies in 2022 at Eramboo Artist Environment, Terrey Hills NSW in May and a KSP Fellowship in October 2022. Helen has two collections of poetry. "Evangelyne & Other Poems" was published by the Australian Poetry Centre, Melbourne (2009). Her second collection "of Arc & Shadow" was published by Sunline Press, Cottesloe WA (2013). Helen holds a Masters in Writing from Edith Cowan University, has taught prose and poetry in association with the OOTA Writers Inc. in Fremantle. Helen has three novels published, "The Last Asbestos Town" (2020), her second novel "The Ozone Café" was published in 2021, New York, USA. Her third novel "The Five Lives of Ms Bennett", a work carried out as a Masters in Writing (ECU) 2006, is published under the imprint Oz.one Publishing (2023).
Featured Work
The Five Lives of Ms Bennett
The Five Lives of Ms Bennett is heartbraking & courageous.
In 1950s Australia, young Alice Bennett sets out to find happiness. She encounters the difficulties of being a young, vibrant woman in this period when a woman's main role was destined to be limited, subservient and co-dependant during the strictures of a close-minded, male-dominated society. You will cheer her on throughout her adventures.
Many details of Australian culture are highlighted as each drama in her five lives unfolds; the setting beginning with the East Coast, later swinging to the West Coast of Australia. The book turns a magnifying glass on a time when women's occupation was home duties, homecraft or cottage industry. Marriage, childbearing, and child rearing were the only options open to so many. Often without the option of sexual equality and basic human rights. From the fifties to the seventies something had to change towards women becoming empowered and equal.
Other Works
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The Last Asbestos Town (2nd Edition)
2023
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Evangelyne & Other Poems - ebook
2022
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The Ozone Cafe
2021
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Of Arc & Shadow (Poetry - ebook)
2021
Awards and Recognition
- Featured author on the State Literature Centre's Podcast WritingWA with Ceo William Yeoman - https://www.buzzsprout.com/2193813/13399456-helen-hagemann-the-five-lives-of-ms-bennett
