Inherited Touch - Green, Judith A

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Résumé :
There is a risk in telling another's story especially when passed down through the family and there are many layers to a life that each person may only glimpse part of. It was with trepidation that Judith took on the task of peeling back the layers - smells, memories, photographs, family tales, official records - to trace the stories of her ordinary, imperfect female forebears. Partly to give them voice, when women's stories are often forgotten or ignored, but for a greater part she admired their resilience, their ability to maintain their balance when life's challenges left them teetering on the brink of an emotional abyss. She wanted to demonstrate how resilience can be nurtured within a spirit of community connectedness, through a sense of belonging. As Judith gathered the women and their stories to her she realised she was being gathered in as much as she was gathering. Her story weaving through the stories she was recording. Facing her own emotional abyss, she experienced the nurturing of a community of women who understood the journey.When I look at the two grainy photos of my mum feeding a lamb and a jealous dog it isn't just what I see, I can smell the pungent odour of chook manure and lamb manure. These smells never disgust me, they are part of farm life, just as the grit of summer dust and the tang of rain on dry earth are imprinted on my memory.

Biographie:
Judith A Green grew up on a wheat and sheep farm outside Warracknabeal. The cycle of the seasons her calendar as were the times of abundant crops and the dust of drought.A love of books, of reading and the telling of family stories nurtured her in her early years, as was a sense of belonging to a faith and a broader community.Her career beyond her school days was as a kindergarten teacher when she delighted in planning experiences to nurture active imaginations. Judith believes this creates the desire to explore, to being open to the excitement of discovery, the magic and wonder of learning.From her early teens Judith has explored her connection to people and place through poetry, short stories, and non-fiction articles. Her work is influenced by a keen interest in family history, history in general, but particularly Australian history and the stories told by our First Nations people.Judith has been placed or Commended in a variety of competitions and published in several anthologies, the most recent being the annual Society of Women Writers Victoria journal Sparx.In 2020 Judith's first book length work Inherited Touch, exploring the resilience of her female forebears, was released.