Betty Birskys work featured at major events

When Betty Birskys started writing, she did not anticipate what life her works would take on many years later.

The Sunshine Coast author published her first book “Homeland” at the age of 79 and followed with a second book “At the Island” three years later. Last week, extracts from Betty’s works featured in two major events.

The first was the launch of the book “Hibiscus and Ti-Tree: Women in Queensland” at the University of Queensland on 26 May.

The book is an anthology of 55 authors in relation to their lives, struggles, conflicts and creativity from early times to the present. The project was funded by the Queensland Government through its Q150 Community Funding Program. It includes a piece by Betty which was published many years ago in the literary magazine Hecate.

“It just shows, when we write something, we can never know what life it takes on, or where our voices may go out there,” Betty said.

An excerpt from her second book “At the Island” was also included in the Moreton Bay Writers Show, which premiered at the Kruger Hall in Kallangur on 28 May.

Devised by Brisbane actors Therese Collie and Tim Mullooly, the 60-minute theatrical presentation featured the history and character of the Moreton Bay region, captured in the words of local published writers.

“The greatest thing for writers is to get their stories out there. We are a young country, with a rich untold history and I feel each generation must tell its version,” she said.

Betty’s latest project involves hosting a blog group on ABC Pool, a social media space where people can share and talk about creative work such as music, photos, videos, documentaries, interviews and animations.

Despite getting “bogged down” in technology, Betty says she feels invigorated enough to venture into the Pool cyberspace with her group “Do not go gentle.” 

In her post she writes: “For years my computer was little more than a glorified typewriter; I made timid excursions into email and basic internet searches. With the guidance of the Pool Team I can now cruise The Pool with some confidence, am learning to dare to press hitherto verboten buttons. (Verboten by the paralysis of fear).”

Follow Betty’s group on: www.pool.org.au/blog/pool_team/breaking_stereotypes

Betty was born in Toowoomba in 1925. During World War 2 she served in the Australian Army Medical Women’s Service.

In 1951, while employed in the Commonwealth Public Service, she married Antanas (Anton) Birskys, a Lithuanian displaced person immigrant.

Betty said she always loved writing and began writing seriously when she retired, particularly about the post-war migrant experience.

Her stories won numerous prizes and were published in prestigious literary magazines such as Meanjin and Southerly. She and Anton collaborated on the Lithuanian section of The Baltic Peoples in Australia, part of the AE Press Ethnic Heritage series.

“Homeland” was one of three manuscripts on the Short List for the 2004 Queensland Premiers Literary Award, while her second book “At the Island” won the SCLA's inaugural WARM Fiction Writer of the Year Award for 2007.