Catherine Deveny

[davo]

This weeks speaker announcement is Catherine Deveny (http://www.catherinedeveny.com)

http://www.atheistconvention.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/catherine-deveny.jpg

Catherine Deveny is a writer, comedian, author and social commentator most recognised for her work as columnist with The Age newspaper and as an ABC regular. She’s been named in the Top 100 Most Influential Melbournians, is a member of the Federal Government’s working party on Dyslexia and her extensive charity and community work includes Griefline (http://griefline.org.au/), Asylum Seeker’s Resource Centre (http://www.asrc.org.au/) and Broken Rites (http://brokenrites.alphalink.com.au/). She’s a proud ambassador for Dying With Dignity Victoria and International Day of People with Disability is and is one of the co-founders of No Chicks No Excuses (http://www.catherinedeveny.com/no-chicks-no-excuses/), a website dedicated to redress the lack of female voices in public life. Her 2010 Melbourne International Comedy Festival one-woman show God Is Bullshit sold out in 2010 and enjoyed a triumphant return in 2011. She’s just finished writing her seventh book Tantrum With Reality published by Black Inc Books. Self-described as a ‘serial pest and professional pain in the arse’ Deveny is widely considered one of the most gifted, versatile and prolific writers in Australia. He voice ranges from polemic to compassionate, stand up to sermon, joke writer to speech writer and from cultural terrorist to cultural therapist. She lives in atheist kibbutz with her partner, three sons and gay husband.

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[Jaar-Gilon]

Noice!!

[Praxis]

I disagree with some of the stuff she comes out with (and unfollowed her on Twitter after her frankly ridiculously black and white views about parents who send their kids to private schools - let's not go there shall we?) but there's no denying she's piss funny when talking about religion and atheism.

We caught God is Bullshit, The Resurrection in Castlemaine recently and it was a fantastic night. Having seen the show at last year's GAC, it was interesting to see how it had evolved. She's a very engaging performer on stage, very accessible and warm; a natural raconteur, and she had added quite a lot to the show, including several hilarious digressions.

So yep, I'll be glad to see her again next year :)

PS: can I now say that I asked her in Castlemaine if she would be at the GAC2012 and she confirmed she would but made sure to say "shhhhh, don't tell anyone yet" and of course I didn't :D

[kazzaqld]

Nice - hopefully by then I'll have thought of something intelligent to say to her. Unlike last year when I stammered! :o

[Podblack]

I think her comments on Twitter were off the cuff and not particularly well thought out - having met her in person and and told her that I WAS one of the people who works in a private school for various reasons, I think she's had people *have a word with her* in the meantime since those tweets. Wish I had more of a chance to discuss it further. Having a lengthy conversation with her might be tough to do under the circumstances, but I hope she does get more people talking about it to her sensibly as to 'why people choose' beyond the rather limited social communication system of Twitter (where it's tough to explain in 140 chars and can unfortunately come across as rude rather than impassioned at times!).

I disagree with some of the stuff she comes out with (and unfollowed her on Twitter after her frankly ridiculously black and white views about parents who send their kids to private schools - let's not go there shall we?) but there's no denying she's piss funny when talking about religion and atheism.

We caught God is Bullshit, The Resurrection in Castlemaine recently and it was a fantastic night. Having seen the show at last year's GAC, it was interesting to see how it had evolved. She's a very engaging performer on stage, very accessible and warm; a natural raconteur, and she had added quite a lot to the show, including several hilarious digressions.

So yep, I'll be glad to see her again next year :)

PS: can I now say that I asked her in Castlemaine if she would be at the GAC2012 and she confirmed she would but made sure to say "shhhhh, don't tell anyone yet" and of course I didn't :D

[riddlemethis]

I think her comments on Twitter were off the cuff and not particularly well thought out - having met her in person and and told her that I WAS one of the people who works in a private school for various reasons, I think she's had people *have a word with her* in the meantime since those tweets. Wish I had more of a chance to discuss it further. Having a lengthy conversation with her might be tough to do under the circumstances, but I hope she does get more people talking about it to her sensibly as to 'why people choose' beyond the rather limited social communication system of Twitter (where it's tough to explain in 140 chars and can unfortunately come across as rude rather than impassioned at times!).

In my observation Kylie, unless you have a public profile, she couldn't give a shit whether what you are saying is factual, well considered & actually beyond her limited experience. She appeared too busy with the 'sound of her own voice' to listen to people who were perfectly capable of spelling out in 140 characters why she was being an appalling bully on that topic.

Generally: What capacity will she be appearing in at GAC2012 I wonder?