JEAN TAYLOR - Radical Lesbian Feminist Writer and Activist
Born in Melbourne Australia in 1944, Jean Taylor was subsequently raised in country Victoria on a dried fruits vineyard in Mildura South. She was educated at state schools and left at the age of 16, started her General Nursing Training at the Mildura Base Hospital in 1961, became pregnant and moved to Melbourne the day after she got married in 1962.
Australian Lesbian Grandmothers Anthology Edited by Jean Taylor
The idea for an Australian Lesbian Grandmothers Anthology was inspired by the fact that of all the topics that have been written about by, for and about Lesbians in Australia
there was not a book especially dedicated to the immense joys and the inevitable vagaries of being a Lesbian Grandmother.
This book, Just a Gran Havin’ a Splendid Time, covers a wide range of emotional responses and highlights the joy and life-changing experiences that inevitably occur for Lesbian Grandmothers from the time their first and subsequent grandchildren are born.
We follow these lesbian grandmothers through the ups and downs of coming to terms with what it actually means to be a lesbian grandmother and note the changes in these unique relationships as the grandchildren get older. And finally appreciating that the grandchildren have grown up to be responsible people and how much having a lesbian grandmother in their lives has broadened their understanding and knowledge of the world
around them in a positive way.
These stories will also bring back memories of our own grandmothers, give us invaluable insights into what it means to be a Lesbian Grandmother in this day and age and will also
serve as positive role models and demonstrate ways in which we can all nurture and care for the vulnerable children in our society that can only be of benefit to us all.
Jean Taylor has written and published books with Dyke Books Inc, including The Archives Trilogy, and has also co-written and co-edited several anthologies: the Women’s Circus book, Leaping Off the Edge, Spinifex Press 1997, and the Long Breast Press anthologies: Willing Up and Keeling Over (2007), Lesbians Write On (2013), On F
or Young and Old(2017) and Walking to the Edge (2019). She says that taking responsibility for this book and bringing this Australian Lesbian Grandmothers Anthology to fruition on a subject dear to her heart has been an absolute pleasure.
Photo on front cover, Backyard Bloom, © copyright Jean Taylor 2023
ISBN 978 0 9923656 7 7 barcode
Dyke Books Inc is a not-for-profit, lesbian feminist publishing venture which was established in 2008 with the aim of publishing writing by, for and about lesbians.
Please note the cost includes postage of $10. Jean Taylor
The book is a collection of all of Jean's non-fiction essays, articles, letters and reports over a period of over thirty years and gives some idea of the issues and campaigns radical lesbian feminists were involved in between the 1970s to the present day as we fought with our radical feminist and socialist feminist sisters in the Women’s Liberation Movement to overthrow the patriarchy and challenge capitalism.
Most of these short pieces were included in the well-known Victorian feminist and lesbian periodicals of the day: Melbourne Women’s Liberation Newsletter, 1972 - 1984, Lesbian Newsletter, 1976 - 1983, Lesbian News, 1983 - 1990, Lesbian Network, 1984 - 2006, Victorian Women’s Liberation Newsletter, 1986 - 1994, Labrys, 1990 - 1992, Lesbiana, 1992 - 2004, and Dykonoclast, 2005 - 2006. And also includes bits and pieces from Rabelais, Lilac, Women’s Circus Newsletter, Mother Earth, SAFE, Lesbians On the Loose, Melbourne Star Observer, Brother Sister, BNews, Melbourne Community Voice and Coalition of Activist Lesbians Newsletter.
Just to give you a brief example of the kinds of articles that are included in the book the following is a brief extract from 1985:
Lesbian Network 5 Spring Equinox September 1985
Networking Along the Lesbian Way
Just a few comments about this Lesbian Network that is being developed around Australia. Having just been travelling up the east coast, primarily to distribute books but also to write, have a holiday and make contact with other dykes along the way, I want to say how very impressed I’ve been by the generous hospitality and friendliness I’ve encountered. Without exception every lesbian I’ve met, every lesbian household I’ve stayed in has shown a warmth and closeness that has been remarkable and much appreciated.
It was something, after a hard day of travelling, arriving in a strange town at sunset, to ring up and be greeted by a friendly voice, ‘come on out, you’re just in time for dinner, of course you can stay here,’ or variations along this same general theme. There have been gaps along the way of course, we haven’t quite managed to get lesbian contacts every couple of hundred miles or so, in which case I just found a quiet spot to camp in the van for the night. And looked forward to the next major town, where I could find familiar conversation and laughter.