Giles, Fiona

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GILES, Fiona

PERSONAL: Born in Perth, Australia; married. Education: Attended University of Western Australia and Oxford University.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author's Mail, Simon & Schuster Publishing, 1230 Avenue of Americas, New York, NY 10020.

CAREER: New South Wales University, Sydney, Australia, former literature lecturer; journalist; instructor for an online women's study course.

AWARDS, HONORS: Hartman fellowship.

WRITINGS:

(Editor) Dick for a Day: What Would You Do If YouHad One? Villard (New York, NY), 1997.

Too Far Everywhere: The Romantic Heroine inNineteenth-Century Australia, University of Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia), 1998.

(Editor) Chick for a Day: What Would You Do If YouWere One? Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2000.

Editor of From the Veranda. Coauthor of Melanie with Melanie Woss.

SIDELIGHTS: Fiona Giles, journalist, teacher, and daughter of a feminist, started reading feminist literature when she was only eleven years old. For her book Dick for a Day: What Would You Do If You Had One? Giles asked many women writers and artists what they would do if they had a penis for a day. The result is a vast array of drawings, stories, essays, and comments, ranging from serious to humorous. "Editor Giles' title may sound too silly or just plain tasteless, but her anthology is actually as provocative and intelligent as it is sexy and funny," claimed Donna Seaman in a Booklist review.

Not to leave men out, Giles asked thirty-eight male writers what they would do if they were a woman for a day in her book Chick for a Day: What Would You Do If You Were One? A Publishers Weekly contributor described the 2000 work as "A humorous romp through male fantasy that includes a great deal of primping, pouting, and posing."

In Too Far Everywhere: The Romantic Heroine in Nineteenth-Century Australia Giles examines six nineteenth-century Australian women writers, including Catherine Spence, Caroline Leakey, Ada Cambridge, Catherine Marin, Tasma, and Rosa Praed, and the novels they wrote. "Highly recommended," praised J. B. Beston in a Choice review.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

American Book Review, November, 2000, Chris Rutledge, "Ain't I a Woman?" pp. 14-15.

Australian Book Review, June, 1992, Margaret Coombs, "Dangerous Reading," p. 49.

Australian Literary Studies, May, 1999, Veronica Brady, review of Too Far Everywhere: The Romantic Heroine in Nineteenth-Century Australia, p. 111.

Booklist, January 1, 1997, Donna Seaman, review of Dick for a Day: What Would You Do If You Had One? p. 806.

Choice, April, 1999, J.B. Beston, review of Too FarEverywhere, p. 1457.

Entertainment Weekly, April 18, 1997, Alexandra Jacobs, review of Dick for a Day, p. 61.

Kirkus Reviews, January 1, 2000, review of Chick for a Day: What Would You Do If You Were One? p. 36.

New Statesman, February 27, 1998, Claire Rayner, "What Would if You Had a Dick for a Day?," p. 48.

Publishers Weekly, December 16, 1996, review of Dick for a Day, p. 51; December 20, 1999, review of Chick for a Day, p. 65.

San Francisco Review, March, 1997, Mariska Van Aaist, "Literal Penis Envy," p. 31.

Time, March 6, 2000, Michele Orecklin, review of Chick for a Day, p. 76.