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Multi-award winning writer
Psychotherapy researcher & coach
Public speaker
Workshop leader
Interfaith Minister
Former publisher (founder of The Women’s Press, London).
‘In an era of inauthenticity, Stephanie Dowrick is a godsend. Her gift is the ability to write in a manner that genuinely enriches and changes lives.’ Nigel Marsh, Host of Five of My Life and author
‘Has a luminosity about her that’s contagious.’ Claire Scobie, Kindred Spirit (UK)
‘She offers penetrating insights into some of the most complex paradoxes in human relationships.’ The Guardian (UK)
‘Stephanie Dowrick’s greatest asset is her own very distinctive voice, a clarity and directness that creates an immediate empathy with the reader.’ Amanda Lohrey, Miles Franklin & Patrick White award-winning author
A path towards The Women’s Press
Dr Stephanie Dowrick is working with others to create an accurate, on-line archive for The Women’s Press https://thewomenspress.com/- a feminist publishing house she founded in 1977 which from February 1978 published some of the 20th-century’s most significant writers, including Virginia Woolf, Alice Walker, Janet Frame, Lisa Alther, May Sarton, Andrea Dworkin, Patricia Grace. Toni Cade Bambara, Joan Riley, Lucy Goodison. Their “brand” was witty, stylish, bold, both in the content of the books and the presentation of the Press.
To create a publishing house that is both political and commercially viable, with first class writers and high production values, has never been easy. Even with the backing of the Namara Group, and its Chairman, Naim Attallah, Stephanie says, “Every bit of my experience in top level jobs, as well as my creativity and motivation, were essential.” A brief account of her prior publishing history follows.
Stephanie Dowrick had worked in her home country, New Zealand, and in the UK, for some years before she “found publishing, and absolutely loved it”. She was an editorial assistant in her first book publishing job (1972) at George G. Harrap and Co., London. From there (1973) she went to work as the Managing Editor first of the hardcover and then of the paperback lists of the New English Library, a British offshoot of the US company, New American Library. In 1975, Stephanie was appointed as the initial Editorial Manager of Triad Paperbacks, a new imprint jointly owned by the top literary publishers Jonathan Cape, Chatto and Windus and the Bodley Head, together with Granada Publishing. Her brief at Triad was to re-launch in paperback writers as renowned as Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, along with publishing new writers like Martin Amis. Following her difficult decision to leave Triad in late 1977, to set up and then run The Women’s Press, Triad Chairman, Tom Maschler, also Chairman of Jonathan Cape, wrote, “Your resignation saddens me as it saddens all of us (that is of course to say all of us at CBC!…Whatever happens, we will always be grateful to you for the very special part you played. You’re somehow manage to combine an understanding of the books with an understanding of the people with an understanding of the terms. Believe me, those gifts are rarely combined, and you have them to an extraordinarily highly developed degree. And in addition we all liked you immensely and will miss you a lot.”
The purpose of establishing The Women’s Press was always to publish excellent writing by women challenging the cultural, social and historical status quo with intelligence, rigour and courage.
About The Women’s Press, Stephanie is quoted as saying,” There has always been excellent writing by women…We were looking at the idea of having a publishing house that would respond to the theoretical ideas that the women’s liberation movement was developing…The existence of the feminist publishing houses, and particularly The Women’s Press, is a statement that there are kinds of writing which have been marginalised, misunderstood, or simply had not been enabled to come into existence.” Tribune, 16 July 1986.
Anxiety is treatable. Yet more and more of us are anxious – and increasingly stressed. A whole-self approach with close attention to your body is all that makes sense. That includes understanding the interactions between stress and anxiety, anxiety and depression – and the all-round loss of confidence and sense of self that comes with chronic or acute anxiety. This book can be read in a gulp or tiny sips, matching newest insights around brain-body-mind with a genuinely self-compassionate perspective. And the author’s own story for immediate insight and change.
‘Read. This. Book. It’s a lifesaver.’ Magda Szubanski AO, Actor and author
‘Stephanie Dowrick’s unique book, through her rich experience and diverse training and expertise, covers all dimensions and layers. The blend of psychotherapeutic depth, spirituality and practical common sense is rare. Dr Dowrick has made an array of connected insights accessible to us all.’ Patrick McGorry AO, Professor of Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne
‘One of the most useful books I have read in over 40 years as a psychotherapist.’ Helen Palmer, Director, Psychosynthesis Education & Research, New Zealand
‘This book is a spiritual toolbox that will lift you when things are difficult and sustain you when things are in a stream of ease. Keep it near. It will help you be more human.’ Mark Nepo, author of The Book of Awakening
‘Dr. Dowrick knows what she’s talking about. Despite all her accolades and genius, her book reads like a note from a friend—passionate yet gentle, exactly what we need in today’s anxiety-ridden world.’ Dr. Chloe Carmichael, PhD, clinical psychologist and author of Nervous Energy
‘‘This brilliant book effectively addresses one of the biggest emotional epidemics of our time: anxiety. With a deep understanding of not just the psychological but biological aspects, Stephanie Dowrick shares real life, real world tools and how to create a self-therapy healing practice that works.’ Kris Ferraro, author of Your Difference Is Your Strength
Dr Stephanie Dowrick is an award-winning writer who takes journal writing to a new level, sharing the life-enhancing gifts creative journal writing invariably brings.
Offering a wide range of prompts, exercises, and moving examples, Creative Journal Writing works for journal writers of every stage and age. As journal writer Oprah Winfrey says, “Keeping a journal will absolutely change your life in ways you’ve never imagined.”
‘Shot through with invaluable practical advice and decades of accumulated wisdom, this gift of a book unlocked parts of me I didn’t know existed.’ Donna M Cameron, author of The Rewilding
‘Stephanie Dowrick is a marvellous writing mentor.. These lessons helped unlock my writing life. I hope they do the same for you.’ Juliette O’Brien OAM, journalist
‘Good fortune brings books and people into our livesI have yearned for this insight and this how-to. It’s changing everything.’ Susana Lei’ataua – journalist and broadcaster, RNZ National
‘To read Creative Journal Writing is a positive joy. As well as it being lucent, calmly clear-eyed, inclusive and incisive, the work Everyone from raw beginner to seasoned pro will gain much from this life-affirming gem..’ Murray Waldren, author of The Mind and Times of Reg Mombassa
‘I love this book. Stephanie’s writings wholeheartedly welcome each one of us to turn up just as we are.’ Dr Kalvinder Shields, Professor of Economics (University of Melbourne); Executive Council, Meditation Association of Australia
‘It’s brilliant! It was with rising exhilaration that I read Stephanie Dowrick’s book. An invitation to join this master class for those who wish to move on from merely recording daily events. The journey awaits.’ Ruth Bonita, public health academic and long-time journal writer
‘Stephanie Dowrick is a wonderful guide to anyone who already journals or wishes to begin. She offers both a helpful handbook on how to write in this most personal of forms, as well as a sensitive exploration of the psychological benefits and opportunities that journal-writing offers.’ Joyce Kornblatt, author of Mother Tongue and writing teacher
We live in a crazy-anxious world. And anxiety is affecting millions of lives. Sometimes crushing your confidence or even your sense of self. Yet effective treatment is often inadequate. Or impossible to access. Taking a whole-self approach based on a rare depth of insight and research, plus the courage to tell her own story, and to make that immediately accessible, Dr Stephanie Dowrick puts knowledge and power back where it belongs: in your hands.
All of this is possible even in the most ‘impossible’ circumstances. Stephanie Dowrick’s commitment, wisdom and honesty shows you how.
Your wellbeing depends more than anything else on feeling ‘at home’ within yourself – and alongside others. For years, Dr Stephanie Dowrick has been researching, teaching, discovering what helps you to feel most connected to yourself and also to others in your intimate and wider worlds. Stephanie’s internationally published, award-winning books are loved by readers for their kindness, wisdom and the storytelling that brings them to life. Her most loved books include:
Whoever we are, wherever we are, we share a drive for meaning, purpose and peace in our lives. Stephanie Dowrick’s books address connection to the this need, as well as our longing for the steadiness that comes with a deeper connection to the wider world. – of which you are a unique part. The following books may particularly support you:
Stephanie Dowrick acknowledges Elders past and present of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation and the people of the Larrakia nation, on whose lands her work is created. Sovereignty has never been ceded.
