Bruce Esplin joined Jon Faine as his co-host on the Conversation Hour today. In a former life he was the Emergency Services Commissioner here in Victoria – now he’s turned to the arts.
As you might know Bruce is a board member at Regional Arts Victoria, and this week they’ve announced a new CEO – it’s Esther Anatolitis, CEO of Melbourne Fringe since 1998. But it’s also relevant that Bruce was in on the day that we met the Firefoxes.
Kate Riddell and Jemima Richards are two women doing extraordinary things to help others recover from disaster. Firefoxes is the grassroots support group they started in the Kinglake Ranges, realising that men and women were dealing very differently with the trauma of Black Saturday, and that by supporting the women they could help to heal the greater community.
Firefoxes has now extended to supporting people affected by flood and cyclones in Queensland.
A new documentary, ‘Creating a New Normal’, tells the story of the group and aims to support others, it’s funded by the Victorian Women’s Trust – you can view it for free at the Firefoxes website .
And another extraordinary woman, best-selling author Kathy Lette, joined the program to share her real-life experiences that have inspired and shaped her latest novel.
‘The Boy Who Fell to Earth’ marks the first time that Kathy has spoken publicly about her son, who has Asperger syndrome. As we heard today, for Kathy it’s been a journey of laughs, tears and sometimes great embarrassment, but always a lot of love.
‘The Boy Who Fell to Earth’ is out now.
