The Australian Women's Weekly January 2024

The new year is about new beginnings – whether it’s a New Year’s resolution or a refresh of your mind, body and soul. For me, this year is my biggest new beginning yet: Becoming the Editor of this iconic publication. Championing and empowering women through telling their stories is something that’s powered my career, and it started at home. I come from a strong matriarchal lineage and my greatest passions – for arts and culture, news and politics, lifestyle and food – were honed through moments with my grandmothers, mother, stepmother, aunties and sisters. Whether it was time spent at the dining table poring over magazines (including The Weekly) and newspapers, discussing the issues of the day while doing the weekend quiz together, or creating cakes from The Women’s Weekly…

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” Sophie’s choice The Australian Women’s Weekly Christmas 2023 issue was amazing, with bright colour and all the magic of Christmas. As with all stories of the spirit of Christmas magic, one added that extra sparkle: Sophie Delezio (“Next Christmas I’ll Be A Married Woman!”, AWW, Christmas). How could it not with her beautiful smile, talking of her upcoming wedding. There is just something about Sophie! S. Yarrow Seymour, Tamborine Mountain, Qld. Bonkbusters As a horse rider and dog lover I have always relished Jilly Cooper’s rip snorting “bonkbusters”. The photo of her and her beautiful rescue greyhound (“I Believe in Love”, AWW, December) reminded me how gentle these much maligned dogs are and just how…

Superstar SUPPORT The era of Tay and Bey “It was like an actual fairytale,” Taylor Swift said when Beyoncé came to the premiere of her concert movie, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour. So, when Beyoncé launched her own film, Renaissance: A film by Beyoncé, in London, Taylor was only too happy to return the compliment, throwing on a silver sequinned dress and jumping on a flight to the UK. “Got invited to London by the Queen ...” the delighted Karma singer said. Women we love Go you Godwin! After pioneering a new skill, and performing it, Australian gymnast Georgia Godwin has had a move on the uneven bars named in her honour. Nic’s new award Nicole Kidman has created a new acting award to honour the late TV pioneer, Brian…

CHINA Modern art Researchers are trying to figure out how to remove paint from ancient statues, after villagers decorated them to thank the gods. The figures were carved in the Sichuan province during the Northern Wei dynasty (386-534CE). ITALY Leaning tower tipped to fall Move over, Leaning Tower of Pisa. A 12th-century tower in Bologna has been surrounded by a five metre-tall barrier amid fears it may collapse. The tower is leaning four degrees (slightly less than its cousin in Pisa, which has a five-degree lean), but it is far less stable. Nepal Love is love Nepal has issued its first marriage license to a same-sex couple, making it one of the few Asian nations to do so. The Himalayan nation enabled same-sex marriages to be registered earlier this year.…

Film In 1956, 11-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu was given a record she had little reason to suspect would reshape her world: Blue Suede Shoes. “I liked Elvis but not as fanatically as many of my girlfriends,” she would later write in her 1985 biography Elvis and Me. Yet three years later, when her father, Air Force officer Paul Beaulieu, took the family to a posting in West Germany, she joked to her friends that she was going there to meet the singer, who had just drafted to the same area. Priscilla was an army brat; her mother, Anna, a former photographer’s model. Her birth father, James Wagner, had been killed in a car crash when she was just six months old. Priscilla herself would know nothing of his existence until…

Ferrari In the summer of 1957, ex-race car driver Enzo Ferrari (Adam Driver) is in crisis. Bankruptcy is threatening the company he and his wife, Laura (Penélope Cruz, below), built from nothing 10 years earlier. And their tempestuous marriage is struggling with the mourning for one son and the acknowledgement of another. And so Enzo decides to roll the dice on one race – 1000 miles across Italy, the iconic Mille Miglia. Based on the 1991 biography Enzo Ferrari: The Man, The Cars, The Races, The Machine, the film also stars Shailene Woodley, Patrick Dempsey and British star Jack O’Connell. In cinemas January 4. The Boys in the Boat Directed by George Clooney, this film focuses on the unlikely true story of the University of Washington rowing team. With the…