Lin Van Hek
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2014}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Lin Van Hek
| image = linvanhek2011.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| image_size =
| origin =
| genre =
| occupation = Artist, musician
| years_active =
| label =
| associated_acts = Difficult Women
| website = {{URL|http://www.linvanhek.com}}
}}
Lin Van Hek (aka Lyn van Hecke, born Lyn Whitehead) is an Australian writer, singer, painter, designer and artist. She was a vice-president of the Society of Women Writers and co-founder of the literary-music group Difficult Women.
Early life
Van Hek was born in Melbourne and lived in Europe and India while she was growing up.
Career
Van Hek co-wrote and sang the song "Intimacy" for the soundtrack of the film The Terminator (1984).{{cite news |last1=Sommerlad |first1=Joe |title=SONY WALKMAN AT 40: HOW THE MILLION-SELLING GADGET TOOK MUSIC PORTABLE AND INSPIRED THE MIXTAPE |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/sony-walkman-40-years-mixtapes-cassettes-portable-music-tech-a8983036.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220614/https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/sony-walkman-40-years-mixtapes-cassettes-portable-music-tech-a8983036.html |archive-date=14 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=5 November 2020 |work=The Independent |date=July 1, 2019}} She later recorded a solo CD River of Life featuring songs of New Zealand writer Kath Tait. More recently, she has performed with her partner, Joe Dolce in Difficult Women, that began with a series of feminist literary salons van Hek held in the 1980s.{{cite news |last1=Talbot |first1=Danielle |title=Difficult Women Have Their Day |work=The Age |date=February 17, 1995 |location=Melbourne, Australia |page=18}}
Van Hek also worked for over two decades with a group of women in North Vietnam designing, manufacturing and trading in hand-embroidered silk garments and textiles with a focus on fair trade and worker ethics.{{cite web |last1=staff |title=Lin van Hek profile |url=http://www.swwvic.org.au/members-achievements/lin-van-hek/ |website=Society of Women Writers: Victoria |access-date=5 November 2020}}
Van Hek is a prolific painter and writer. She is described by Booker Prize-winning author Keri Hulme as writing "like an angel giving the devil her due."{{cite journal |last1=staff |title=The Ballad of Siddy Church |journal=Feminist Bookstore News |date=1997 |volume=20 |page=104 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3oTgAAAAMAAJ&q=lin%20van%20hek}}
Awards
- 1988 winner of the Melbourne The Age Short Story Award
- 2015 Best Australian Poems, edited by Geoff Page.
- 2016 & 2017 winner of the Society of Women Writers short story contest.
Bibliography
=Novels=
- The Hanging Girl (Misfit Books, 1988)
- The Ballad of Siddy Church (Spinifex, 1997)
- Katherine Mansfield's Black Paper Fan (Difficult Women, 2010)
=Short fiction=
;Collections
- ''The Slain Lamb Stories (Independent, 1979)
- Anna's Box : selected short stories (Difficult Women, 2006)
;Stories
| class='wikitable sortable' width='90%' |
| width=25%|Title
!|Year !|First published !|Reprinted/collected !|Notes |
|---|
| Mrs Black
|2003 |{{cite journal |author=Van Hek, Lin |date=2003 |title=Cat Tales: The Meaning of Cats in Women's Lives|journal=Spinifex Press }} | | |
| The Goddess Paddock
|2004 |{{cite journal |author=Van Hek, Lin |date=2004 |title=Horse Dreams: The Meaning of Horses in Women's Lives|journal=Spinifex Press }} | | |
| This Most Privileged of Madnesses
|2013 |{{cite journal |author=Van Hek, Lin |date=May 2013 |title=This Most Privileged of Madnesses|journal=Quadrant }} | | |
| Mikel's Christmas
|2017 |{{cite journal |author=Van Hek, Lin |date=June 2017 |title=Mikel's Christmas | journal=Quadrant }} | | |
| Mrs Black
|2017 |{{cite journal |author=Van Hek, Lin |date=Dec 2017 |title=Mrs Black |journal=Quadrant }} | | |
| Herman and Manning
|2019 |{{cite journal |author=Van Hek, Lin |date=June 2019 |title=Herman and Manning|journal=Quadrant }} | | |
= Selected book reviews=
| class='wikitable sortable' width='90%' |
| |Year
!class='unsortable'|Review article !class='unsortable'|Work(s) reviewed |
|---|
| 2020
|{{cite journal |author=Van Hek, Lin |date=Jan–Feb 2018 |title=Poetry of wildness |journal=Quadrant |volume=62 |issue=1–2 [543] |pages=85–86}} |{{cite book |author=Petit, Pascale |title=Mama Amazonica |publisher=Bloodaxe |year=2017 }} |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{official website|http://www.linvanhek.com}}
- [https://www.weekendnotes.com/the-art-exhibition-of-lin-van-hek Weekend Notes Review]
- [https://giveitmouth.com/how-creator-lin-van-hek-makes-it-matter Give It Mouth Interview]
- [http://members.iinet.net.au/~dwomen/files/difficultwomen/index.html Difficult Women Website]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Hek, Lin}}
Category:Australian women novelists
Category:Quadrant (magazine) people