Episode 7: Ruby Hamad on persuasive writing and cultural criticism The Writer’s Room with Charlotte Wood

This episode features non-fiction writer Ruby Hamad about persuasive writing, cultural critique, and how to weather the storms of public opinion while holding on to your writerly hat.

Ruby is a journalist, author, and academic, currently completing her PhD in media studies at UNSW. She’s a former columnist at Fairfax's Daily Life where she wrote about issues as varied as feminism, veganism, and Middle East politics. She’s also written for The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, Crikey, SBS, and The New York Times. Her Guardian Australia article, headlined, “How White Women Use Strategic Tears to Silence Women of Colour” became a global flashpoint for discussions of white feminism and racism and grew into her first book, White Tears/Brown Scars. It was published in 2019 by Melbourne University Press, and will be released in North America and the UK later this year.

This episode was recorded at Charlotte's house in inner Sydney, with its attendant suburban background soundtrack. Oh, and please enjoy Charlotte's embarrassing bungle in which she confuses Aristotle & Plato ...