Kenneth Myer Lecture 2017

Society & Culture

Dr Anne Summers AO is a best-selling author, journalist and thought leader with a long career in politics, the media, business and the non-government sector. She is the author of eight books, including the classic Damned Whores and God’s Police, first published in 1975. She has been editor-in-chief of Ms., the landmark US feminist magazine, and her 1988 purchase of Ms. and Sassy magazines with business partner Sandra Yates remains one of only two women-led management buyouts in US corporate history. Her professional life has seen her run the Office for the Status of Women (now Office for Women) during the Hawke government, and she also advised former Prime Minister Paul Keating on women’s and other issues in the lead-up to the 1993 election. On matters of gender equality, social responsibility and social justice Anne Summers’ articulate journalism, politics and activism have called us all to account. About the Kenneth Myer Lecture The Kenneth Myer Lecture is named for Kenneth Baillieu Myer AC, who was a businessman and philanthropist with a wide range of cultural and social commitments. He was Chair of the National Library Council from 1972 to 1982 and a long-time friend of the Library. The prescription for the lecture is simple and based on Mr Myer’s philosophy. He saw it as a means to provide an eminent Australian with the opportunity to make a significant statement on a broad subject of particular interest to them. In particular, we invite our speakers to consider how they would promote positive change in Australia. The National Library of Australia thanks the Myer Foundation for its support of the 2017 Kenneth Myer Lecture.