Monica Wilkie and distinguished American-British novelist Lionel Shriver in Melbourne sat down and discussed the proliferating dos and don’ts of political correctness, the predations of gotcha identity politics and the hypersensitivities of the #MeToo movement.
There is a danger in faithfully following this host of concocted rules and dutifully avoiding stepping on a plethora of toes. Among other things, it could lead to bad, obedient art. It’s time the creative professions pushed back.
Lionel Shriver is author of numerous international bestseller novels and a columnist with The Spectator in London. Her book called Property(HarperCollins) is a collection of witty and quirky stories about the ownership of not just houses, but objects, people, places and experiences.
Monica Wilkie is a policy analyst at the CIS. Monica has a Bachelor of Arts, a Masters of Media Practice and has worked as a media analyst. Her current research focuses on free speech and hate speech laws.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald: “Shriver was catapulted to fame after the publication of We Need to Talk About Kevin, her chilling 2003 novel about a school shooting. The novel, which was rejected by 30 publishers, won the Orange Prize and was turned into a film starring Tilda Swinton. Since then, she has published international bestsellers including The Mandibles and The Post-Birthday World.”