In Conversation with Laura Elizabeth Woollett
The stories women's bodies tell
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An essential conversation about the stories women's bodies tell, the illnesses too often left unspoken, and the power of turning personal experience into public understanding.
What happens when a celebrated novelist turns her sharp, investigative eye towards a hidden and often misunderstood women’s health condition?
Join acclaimed author Laura Elizabeth Woollett in conversation with broadcaster and interviewer Christine Layton as they discuss Hell Days: Into the Inferno of Hormonal Mood Disorder, a groundbreaking new work of nonfiction that combines memoir, medical research, history and reportage to shed light on Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD).
In Hell Days, Woollett chronicles her own experience of living with PMDD, a debilitating hormonal mood disorder that can cause extreme psychological distress and remains under-recognised despite affecting countless women. Through deeply personal storytelling, extensive research and conversations with sufferers, clinicians and scientists, Woollett explores the complex intersections of women's health, mental health, medical bias and the search for understanding.
This powerful conversation will delve into the realities of living with chronic hormonal illness, the gaps in women's healthcare, and the urgent need for greater awareness, research and compassion. It is a discussion that is at once intimate, confronting and ultimately hopeful.
Whether you have a personal connection to women's health issues, an interest in contemporary nonfiction, or simply want to hear from one of Australia's most compelling literary voices, this is an unmissable event.
About the author
Laura Elizabeth Woolett is an author and critic based in Naarm/Melbourne. Her shory story collection, The Love of a Bad Man, was published in 2016, followed by the novels Beautiful Revolutionary (2018), The Newcomer (2021), and West Girls (2023). Her works have been listed for numerous awards, including the Stella Prize and the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Fiction. In 2025, she was a writer-in-residence at the Cité Internationale Des Arts in Paris. Hell Days (2026) is her nonfiction debut.
About the host
Christine Layton has presented national and statewide programs on ABC Local Radio for over a decade including WA Afternoons, Perth Saturday Breakfast, Roots & Shoots with Sabrina Hahn and Nightlife.
An award-winning lindy hop performer/teacher, native gardener and Mum of two, Christine is also WA's ambassador for Endometriosis Australia after being diagnosed with stage IV deep