Susan Hawthorne in conversation with Loretta Smith
About
In this online conversation, Susan Hawthorne speaks with Loretta Smith about Loretta’s memoir, Corpus in Extremis: A Memoir.The discussion traces the life experiences that shaped the book, from Smith’s childhood in Moonee Ponds in 1960s Australia through schooling, family life, disability and mobility, and into adulthood marked by travel, work and long-term medical care. Smith speaks about living with Osteogenesis Imperfecta (brittle bone disease), including how it affected her body, education, independence and sense of self over time.
Hawthorne and Smith will explore questions of place and community, growing up with disability, the practical realities of mobility aids and medical intervention, and the experience of travelling independently and with others. The conversation also considers the influence of people and events that recur across Smith’s life, including her discovery of Alice Anderson, the subject of A Spanner in the Works, and how that work intersected with her own story.
The event will conclude with reflection on what it meant to write Corpus in Extremis, and how the book brings together memory, embodiment, travel, work and survival into a sustained personal account.
Loretta Smith is an Australian writer and memoirist, and the bestselling author of A Spanner in the Works, whose work explores disability, lived experience and survival.
Susan Hawthorne is an award-winning Australian writer, poet, political commentator and women’s rights activist, with a long-standing body of work in feminist, cultural and political writing. She has written extensively about the politics of disability.
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SYDNEY/MELBOURNE 6:00PM | BRISBANE 5:00PM | PERTH 3:00PM
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***** ORDER THE BOOK *****
Please go to the Spinifex website where you can purchase Corpus in Extremis: A Memoir as a paperback or ebook.
If you are based in Australia please enter the code FREEPOST at the checkout and we will send the book to you with free postage.
https://www.spinifexpress.com.au/shop/p/9781922964069
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Date
Wednesday 11 February 2026 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM (UTC+11)Location
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Susan Hawthorne in conversation with Loretta Smith
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