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Explore the growing digital archive of deaf history in Australia

Story

Deaf Writers’ Group

Curator
Karen Lloyd
Collection
Arts and Culture

Karen Lloyd describes the beginnings of the Deaf Writers Group in Sydney.

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1986

Dorothy Shaw wrote a Circular calling for deaf people interested in creative writing to meet and form a group.

From the collection of Karen Lloyd. Used with permission.

1987, May

Article by Karen Lloyd explaining the urgent necessity for deaf people to tell their own stories and influence the narratives about their own lives and communities.

From the Collection of Karen Lloyd.

1980s

Deaf Writers’ Group c.1986. Left to right: Dorothy (Dot) Shaw, Karen Lloyd, Nola Colefax, Diana Laing, Charlene Grace, Tony Nicholas, Carol O’Reilly.

From the Collection of Diana Laing. Used with permission.

1988, January

Karen describes how the magazine Sound Off began, with its first issue in June 1987.

Copyright Karen Lloyd. Used with permission.

1987, June

Sound Off, Issue No. 1

From the Collection of Karen Lloyd.

1989, December

Karen explains why Sound Off finished in 1989 after a further five issues altogether.

Copyright Karen Lloyd. Used with permission.

Related Artefacts

Sound Off No.2 Dec 1987

Magazine of the Deaf Writers’ Group

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Sound Off No.3 May 1988

Magazine of the Deaf Writers’ Group

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Sound Off No.4 Apr 1989

Magazine of the Deaf Writers’ Group

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Sound Off No.5 Aug 1989

Magazine of the Deaf Writers’ Group

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Related Lessons

English Year 10: Language for Empowerment

Students analyse a ‘manifesto’ about the value of writing for a minority group – deaf people – to identify the author’s strategies for appealing to shared cultural knowledge, values and beliefs, and the experience of marginalization. Students then analyse 2-3 historical texts for examples of language that includes or marginalizes deaf people.

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Further Readings

Some members of the Deaf Writers’ Group currently write online. You can read more here:
Michael Uniacke’s website: https://www.tuq.pub/
Karen Lloyd’s blog: https://lifeanddeaf.net/about/
There are also a number of publications about deaf writing in Australia:
Anderson, M. & Carty, B. (2014). The Cosmopolitan Correspondence Club. In K. Snoddon, Ed., Telling deaf lives: Agents of change (pp. 148-162). Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press.
Lawrence, A. (n.d) The Creative Writing Class. Unpublished memoir.

Uniacke, M. & Carty, B. (2022). ‘A message to humanity on behalf of the adult deaf’: The protest writing of John Patrick Bourke. Australian Literary Studies, 37(1).

Welcome to the Deaf History Collections

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