Strong Female Characters: Christine Jeffs and Emily Perkins

Award-winning creatives Christine Jeffs and Emily Perkins are unrelenting in their creation and portrayal of real women on our pages, stages and screens. Christine Jeffs has written and directed a series of films, many adapted from books and all featuring women at the centre, including Rain, her 2023 film Sylvia based on the life of Sylvia Plath, and her new film A Mistake. Emily Perkins won the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the 2024 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards for her searing novel Lioness and also writes for the stage and screen, including a writing credit for After The Party. What does it take to be a strong female character in their mahi?

NOTE: Due to work commitments in the UK, Robyn Malcolm is unfortunately unable to join us at WORD Christchurch this year and will no longer appear in this session.

In partnership with the University of Canterbury.