A Podcast of One's Own with Julia Gillard
Julia Gillard, the only woman to have served as Prime Minister of Australia sits down for insightful, moving and thought-provoking conversations with some of the most interesting people from around the world working to advance gender equality – whether that's by actively dismantling gender-based barriers, or by being inspirational trailblazers in their field. We'll bring you stories from the worlds of business, entertainment, media, sport and many more, shining a light on people doing amazing things that you might not have heard about, and learning more about those we already know and love. Julia presents a podcast in her role as Founder and Chair of the Global Institute for Women's Leadership (GIWL). GIWL is a world-leading research institute working to advance gender equality within workplaces, communities and societies. The podcast is produced by the GIWL team at the Australian National University, Canberra, with support from our sister institute at King's College London. Earnings from the podcast go back into the Institute, supporting the work we do to advance gender equality in Australia and the Asia Pacific, and beyond. To stay up to date with the Institute’s work go to giwl.anu.edu.au and sign up to our updates, or follow us on social media @GIWLANU. You can also find @APodcastofOnesOwn on Instagram. The team at A Podcast of One's Own acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples listening today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
In this special interview episode of Julia's Book Club, we welcome award-winning writer, political scientist and activist Elif Shafak back to the podcast to discuss her brand-new novel, In One Brief Moment All Eternity.
The book tells the story of 19th century author Gustave Flaubert, but this is not historical fiction as we usually know it. The story unfolds through a remarkable chorus of voices: the women who shaped or crossed...
In this episode, Julia is joined by Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls, a leading Pacific feminist and peacebuilder who has spent more than three decades ensuring women’s voices shape the decisions that affect their lives, from local communities across the Pacific to the United Nations Security Council.
Sharon reflects on the family and intergenerational women’s movement that shaped her activism, and how political upheaval in Fiji...
In this month’s Book Club episode, Julia Gillard and her co-host Kathy Lette discuss May We Feed the King, the debut fiction novel from British poet Rebecca Perry.
The novel won Waterstone’s Debut Fiction Prize and has been shortlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize.
The novel tells the story of a curator, who dresses the rooms of historic buildings using furniture, ornaments and fake food. While working in a medieval ...
Sherele Moody is an award-winning journalist, anti-violence campaigner and founder of the RED HEART Movement and Australian Femicide Watch. For more than a decade, Sherele has tirelessly documented every woman and child who has been violently killed in Australia, telling their stories to ensure they are remembered for who they were, not defined by how they died or reduced to a headline or statistic.
For Sherele, this work ...
In this extra special crossover episode, Julia is joined by Sophie Gee, co-host of The Secret Life of Books podcast, for a joyful conversation celebrating their shared love of books and reading.
Julia and Sophie compare notes on hosting book podcasts, share their lifelong love of literature, and reflect on their experiences chairing two of the world's leading literary prizes for women and non-binary writers – the Women's P...
In this month’s episode of Julia’s Book Club, Julia Gillard and Sarah Holland-Batt discuss a truly iconic novel that became a cultural phenomenon, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.
First published in 1985, the story follows Offred, a woman who has been assigned as a Handmaid to a household in the Republic of Gilead, a religious totalitarian state that has overthrown the United States government amidst env...
In a special live recording from the 2026 Women Deliver conference in Melbourne, Julia Gillard interviews Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant.
Julie began her career working in Washington at the dawn of the digital age, and went on to work for Microsoft, Twitter and Adobe.
Over time she became increasingly concerned about what technology companies could do to keep people safe, and what they were actuall...
In this month’s episode of Julia’s Book Club, Julia Gillard and Kathy Lette discuss Yesteryear, the hit debut novel from Caro Claire Burke.
Yesteryear follows Natalie - a wife and mother living on a ranch in Idaho and promoting a traditional lifestyle to her many millions of followers on social media. One day Natalie wakes up in a strange version of reality, where her home and family look similar but different.
Wh...
In this special episode recorded live at the 2026 Hay Festival in Wales, Julia Gillard sits down with Thangam Debbonaire to discuss their roles as judges for this year’s Women Prize.
Julia is chairing the judging panel for the Women's Prize for Fiction, while Thangam is the chair of judges for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction.
In this entertaining conversation the pair take listeners behind the scenes of judging ...
In this very special episode of Julia’s Book Club, Julia Gillard and Sarah Holland-Batt discuss the work that inspired the name of this podcast.
Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own was originally delivered as two lectures at Girton College, Cambridge almost a hundred years ago.
Despite the passage of time many of the themes and ideas Woolf explores in this short but weighty book remain startlingly relevant today.
...Former AFLW player and gender equality advocate Akec Makur Chuot has lived an extraordinary life.
Born in South Sudan, she spent her early years in a refugee camp in Kenya before moving to Australia at age 11. She went on to become the first African woman drafted into the inaugural season of the AFLW, the national professional league for women’s Aussie rules football, helping to shape the game from the very beginning.
I...
In the first Book Club episode of 2026 Julia Gillard and Kathy Lette delve into The Names, the hit debut novel by British author Florence Knapp.
The story begins in 1987 when a woman named Cora arrives at the registry office for what at first glance seems like a simple task: naming her newborn son. But for Cora it is a deeply complicated decision. Her husband expects her to follow family tradition and name him Gordon; she likes ...
In this special episode recorded live at the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London, Julia Gillard interviews author and broadcaster Caitlin Moran.
They delve into her hippy childhood, how she found her voice, the future of feminism and her book What About Men.
The event also launched the latest GIWL research into global attitudes towards gender equality, produced in conjunction with IPSO...
To kick off our new season, Julia sits down with award-winning playwright and former criminal defence lawyer Suzie Miller.
Suzie’s work sits at the intersection of law, storytelling and social change. Before becoming one of the most influential voices in contemporary theatre, she spent years working inside the justice system as a criminal defence lawyer – an experience that would later shape many of her plays.
She...
In the final episode of 2025 Julia Gillard and Kathy Lette look back on their favourite books of the year.
In a candid and funny chat they also discuss writing memoirs, the upcoming release of Kathy's new book, Julia's role as Chair of the Women's Prize for Fiction and their plans for the holiday season.
Show notes:
Kathy Lette's new novel The Sisterhood Rules will be published in Australia on February 3, 2026 and in the U...
This month's episode of A Podcast of One's Own is a little unusual because you'll hear from two guests, who are unaccustomed to the limelight as they work in the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office which is one department of the UK’s national security community.
They're also both mums and in a long term job share.
They talk to Julia about the stereotypes and misc...
Kelly T. Clements has made it her life’s mission to help people who have been displaced by war, violence, famine and other catastrophes.
Kelly has served as Deputy High Commissioner of UNHCR (The United Nations High Commission for Refugees) since 2015.
In this episode Julia Gillard and Kelly discuss her 30 year career that’s taken her to conflict zones around the world.
They delve into the devastating cutbacks ...
In this month’s Book Club episode, Julia Gillard and her co-host Sarah Holland-Batt explore Highway 13 by internationally acclaimed Australian author Fiona McFarlane.
The award-winning book is a series of loosely connected short stories focusing on the lives of everyday people who have all been affected by a single serial killer in a small Australian town.
Paul Biga is arrested and charged over the brutal murders of at ...
In this episode Julia Gillard sits down with former New Zealand Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern.
Jacinda was just 37 years old when she was elected Prime Minister, and a few months later became the second leader in history to give birth while in office, when she welcomed her daughter Neve.
This year Jacinda published her memoir - A Different Kind of Power - an aptly named book for someone who always pushed back against ste...
In a special Book Club episode, Julia Gillard sits down with Global Institute for Women’s Leadership Chair Professor Michelle Ryan to discuss The Book of Guilt by New Zealand author Catherine Chidgey.
The Book of Guilt is a deeply unsettling exploration of autonomy, identity, and morality.
It’s set in an alternate England in 1979 – where Hitler’s assassination in 1943 led to a negotiated peace and a ch...
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