Anne Summers is a writer, a journalist and author, whose latest books are The Lost Mother and On Luck. She founded and edits Anne Summers Reports and writes opinion columns for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Sunday Age.

Anne used to help organise and facilitates the annual Serious Women’s Business conference, Australia’s pre-eminent conference for women aspiring to leadership (2001-2009), was chair of the board of Greenpeace International (2000-2006) and Deputy President of Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum (1999-2008). Her book The End of Equality was published in 2003 and her autobiography Ducks on the Pond came out in 1999.

She ran the federal Office of the Status of Women (now Office for Women) from 1983 to 1986 when Bob Hawke was Prime Minister and was an advisor on women’s issue to Prime Minister Paul Keating prior to the 1993 federal election.

In 1975 her book Damned Whores and God’s Police changed the way women were perceived in this country. This bestseller was updated in 1994 and, again, in 2002 and stayed continuously in print until 2008 – an incredible 33 years. She also published Gamble for Power, an account of the 1983 federal elections and Her-Story: Australian Women in Print (with Margaret Bettison).

These days Anne lives in Sydney with Chip Rolley, her partner of 20 years who is the Artistic Director of the Sydney Writers Festival.

Areas of Expertise