Author(s): Lo Carmen

General Biography / Memoir | Australian/Aotearoa | Popular Culture

A beautiful and moving memoir about passion, creativity and fearlessness from one of Australia's true creatives, singer/songwriter Lo Carmen, inspired by the lives and careers of other remarkable Australian women - from Renee Geyer to Chrissy Amphlett to Wendy Saddington.

'Mostly it's women with a type of fearlessness that thrill me. All the torch bearers that I've grown up admiring and watching ... I see them and I see a version of myself in them.'

Lo Carmen was discovered at sixteen working in a Kings Cross pizza bar and cast as in the seminal Australian film The Year My Voice Broke, for which she was nominated for an AFI award. But even before that, Lo has lived a bigger life than most.

From being backstage at Rolling Stones concerts when she was a baby to writing her first song at eight; performing an original song onstage at nine; travelling by herself from Adelaide to Darlinghurst when she was thirteen; forming her first band at twenty one; having a baby while barely out of her teens; touring Europe without a manager, funds or a safety net; making music her life and her art.

In all this, Lo has been inspired by a handful of women - all icons, one way or another, of modern Australian life. Lo Carmen weaves her own remarkable story as an independent creative spirit and critically acclaimed singer/songwriter together with compelling portraits of the women who have influenced her life and career: bold creative visionaries, trailblazers, provocateurs, pioneers, feminists and activists such as Renee Geyer, Chrissy Amphlett and Sallie-Anne Huckstepp, exploring the often complex lives of these fascinating women as a way of understanding her own life and choices.

A tender, joyous, messy, vibrant and wholly inspiring investigation of creativity, passion, purpose, art and music.

'A hard won account of the mess, glory and risk of making art. Lo tells her story by telling the stories of all those who've lit and tended her flame. She knows that worship is at the heart of creation. And she writes like a river.' Paul Kelly

February 2022