I am honoured to be the subject of this month’s “author spotlight” in the newsletter of the NT Writers’ Centre, March 2023. Since arriving in Darwin in the late nineties I’ve been involved with its writers’ centre, and was elected to its Board five years ago. As the current Vice-President I am working to increase First Nations representation both on […]
These ads are grossly irresponsible and should be called out every time such images are published, telling readers and viewers that happiness lies in losing weight.
From a time before Covid, when authors could hold live book launches, comes this video of the event on Darwin, filmed by my grandson Arlo Steinberg. Enjoy the nostalgia! For more videos go to Dina Davis Author on U tube at youtube.com/@DinaDavisAuthor. Since then the book has sold hundreds of copies in Australia and overseas. My greatest reward has been […]
I was fortunate to be interviewed by fellow author Renée McBryde (Unravelling Us) for Red Kangaroo Books at this year’s NTWFestival. You can watch the interview here: https-//youtu.be/ACOPO87kFd8 2.webloc About Red Kangaroo Books in Mparntwe (Alice Springs NT) Dina Davis and Renée McBryde, both NT Authors, chat about the beauty of fiction, the use of imagination, the reinvention of self, […]
Like many other survivors who still bear the scars of Anorexia Nervosa, I am incredibly grateful for the research into this disease showing that it has a strong genetic component. This study was the first of its kind to show that an individual’s DNA may be useful as an adjunct tool in clinical care. More specifically, if findings from genetic studies become more robust through larger sample sizes, genetic information may help us identify individuals who are at greatest risk for developing a severe or enduring illness. HERE IS THE ARTICLE FROM “EXCHANGES” SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL, JUY 2022: by Therese Johansson, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden Eating disorders arise from a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Eating disorders affect millions of people around the world, are life-disrupting, and in some cases can be life-threatening. Unfortunately, no easy test exists, like a blood test, that can tell us if someone has an eating disorder. Recent studies led by Karolinska Institutet, UNC CEED, and King’s College London compared the DNA of people with and without (typical) anorexia nervosa and identified regions in the human DNA that differ between individuals with anorexia nervosa and those without [1]. This has helped us understand the underlying biology of the disorder and has the potential to further help us identify people at risk for poor outcome. Another somewhat surprising result of these studies was that low body mass index (BMI) and anorexia nervosa share genetics, indicating that people […]
How many writers’ festivals are held on the edge of the ocean under a tropical sky? In Darwin, called Garrmalang in the language of the Larrakia people, visitors were treated to four days of fantastic literary events beneath leafy casuarina trees or in the shade of a huge marquee. The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory hosted the […]
I am always happy to receive feedback from my readers, whether positive or otherwise, provided it’s honest and respectful. Here are some of the many responses I’ve had from the “chat” form on my website. If you have anything to say about either of my books, or any of my articles, I’d be delighted to hear from you. SImply go […]
Reproduced with permission of the artist, Liz Grylls. In the current epidemic of eating disorders during Covid, popular women’s magazines have a lot to answer for. Margaret Atwood thought so too.
A short video and report from the ACPP Conference in February 2022
I have long been interested in the connection between mental illness and creativity. My latest novel, A Dangerous Daughter, describes how psychoanalysis was used to cure a mental illness and to unlock the main character’s creativity. Some of our greatest artists, writers and musicians suffered some form of mental illness while producing brilliant and lasting works of art. Many of the 20th century’s great writers, including Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Schumann,Virginia Woolf, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda Fitzgerald, and William Styron, suffered from mental illness. In this article by Jahnavi Ravishankar “Sylvia Plath– A Caged Darkness of the Mind”, the writer extrapolates how Freud, the Father of Psychoanalysis, might have analysed the poet and author Sylvia Plath, who suffered what would now be called a bipolar condition, and made several suicide attempts before succeeding in 1963. In this abridged version, Ravishankar analyses Plath’s famous poem, ‘Daddy” in Freudian terms (see poem attached): .“Sylvia Plath, a renowned American poet, was clinically depressed for most of her life and eventually became a victim of suicide at the age of Bnb thirty. The “Ariel” poems, including ‘I am Vertical and ‘Daddy’, were written shortly before she died. and posthumously garnered acclaim. These poems painted a vivid image of her inner psyche. Sigmund Freud’s position that the artist is a successful neurotic has been contested but, at the same time, has served as a key focal point for several psychoanalytic theories in literature. In his essay, ‘Creative Writers and Daydreaming’, he states, “The […]
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Dina Davis Author 