About Jacquie Jacqueline Kent is…
a writer of non-fiction and biography, fiction, general articles and literary journalism. Her working background includes radio interviewing, print journalism, radio and TV scriptwriting, editing books, ghostwriting, teaching editing and creative writing, and arts administration.
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A different kind of politician
The Drum Unleashed, ABC.net.au
You don’t have to research Julia Gillard’s story for very long to realise that everybody seems to have an opinion about her – whether they’re interested in politics or not.
Views seem to be equally divided between those who like her and those who don’t. She’s been praised and criticised for her hairstyle, her clothes, even the way she speaks: some consider her the poster girl for unmarried career women without children, others think she is strident, bullying and above all unfeminine.
A measurable group of ALP supporters are still angry about the immigration policy she crafted in Opposition after the 2001 Tampa crisis, which they say was far too close to the Howard government’s; others defend Gillard’s ‘pragmatism’.
Continue reading The Drum Unleashed
The Making of Julia Gillard
October 18, 2009 by Deborah Robinson
Julia Gillard is the first woman in our nation’s history to become the Deputy Prime Minister and is tipped by many to go all the way to the top job. Highly intelligent, with a strong work ethic, Gillard is widely perceived to be ambitious. But does she even want to be Prime Minister?
Author of The Making of Julia Gillard, the acclaimed biographer Jacqueline Kent, is the first to tell Gillard’s story in it’s entirety. Kent told me she chose our Deputy Prime Minister as the subject of her third book because she has always been fascinated by women who refuse to conform to sterotype. “We haven’t had enough women politicians and Gillard’s one of the first to try and find a model of her own. She’s doesn’t fit the stereotype. Women in politics have been cute, or very well behaved, or mumsy – more stereotypical women. But she has decided she’s never going to do that.”
Continue reading The Making of Julia Gillard
December 12, 2009
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Christmas is coming and that means it’s time both to give and receive books. We asked a range of writers what they had most enjoyed reading this year.
KATE GRENVILLE
The Making of Julia Gillard (Viking) by Jacqueline Kent shows that a woman can thrive — not just survive — in an adversarial environment. Kent’s biography is about how Gillard got to where she is. A delight to read: clear, lively, well-balanced between the human and the political.
Promoting a book is a most peculiar thing to be doing.
I’ve just come back from a week of it, spruiking The Making of Julia Gillard. It’s a very small taste of what it might be like to be Gillard herself: lots of people asking the same questions, having to behave as if you’ve never heard the question before. You get into a rhythm, you get used to it.
It’s different from any promotion I’ve done in the past, too. If you’ve had a look at the site, you can see that my two previous biographies were of women who were not well known to most people, if they’d heard of them at all. As one radio commentator, not my favourite person, asked bluntly about Hephzibah Menuhin: ‘Who is this woman and why should we care about her?’ In interviews I knew what the first question would be, so I always started off explaining who these women were, what they had done, etc.
Continue reading Life on the road
I’ve been doing interviews for the book all week, and it’s very cheering to see something like this … thanks, First Dog.
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