Queens of Print by Rebecca Johinke

For fifty years our most powerful popular culture influencers have been the high-powered editors of mass-market women’s magazines like The Australian Women’s Weekly, Woman’s Day, New Idea and the now defunct Dolly, Cleo and Cosmopolitan. It is difficult to overstate the influence that these women have had in shaping popular ideas and attitudes, feminism, and femininity in Australia via the pages of their magazines. In these interviews, they describe their lives and careers in a medium that is part of our publishing heritage. Queens of Print is a tribute to the most influential and iconic women in Australian women’s magazines. It is a snapshot of a rapidly changing industry where print is supposedly dead, and media have been disrupted. This book looks back, but also forward to consider what a magazine might be and what a magazine editor might do in future decades.

About the Author: Rebecca Johinke is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Sydney. Her work is interdisciplinary and focuses on gender and popular culture: hence her interest in women’s magazines. Her other interests include writing and rhetoric and Australian literature, film and popular music. She has a strong interest in walking narratives, cultural tourism and the flaneur, and in masculine car cultures. Committed to improving the student experience, she also conducts research in teaching and learning.

Queens of Print: Interviews with Australia’s Iconic Women’s Magazine Editors by Rebecca Johinke ISBN 9781925984002