Published in 2025
229 pages
Jacinta Parsons is a broadcaster, radio maker, writer, and public speaker. She currently hosts Afternoons on ABC Melbourne delivering a popular mix of art, culture and ideas. She began her radio-life at community radio station 3RRR over a decade ago, where she hosted several shows including Breakfasters and Detour. But her peak Melbourne moment came earlier, when she worked as a tram conductor (proudly wearing one of the last of the Connie’s green uniforms).
Jacinta has lived with Crohn’s disease for over 20 years and is an ambassador for the Crohn’s and Colitis Association and speaks and writes about the impact of living with chronic illness. She is also an active member of the arts & music community and is a board member for Melbourne disability theatre company, Rollercoaster. Unseen is her first book.
What is this book about?
An uplifting, inspiring book about the wisdom of older women – and what we can learn from them to rewrite the story of the second half of our lives.
‘I want to hear the wisdom from women about where we really live, deep in our hearts … I want to hear the wisdom about our invisibility, our imaginations, our traumas, our joys, our changing roles, our loves and our death. How do we age in this body so that we can launch full tilt to the sky even as it wrinkles and slows and stiffens and breaks? It’s my intention with this book to work out how to age with the requisite love and rebellion that it surely requires. Hopefully, with the right kind of revolution, we can set the course for generations to come.’
A Wisdom of Age was sparked by the many conversations Jacinta Parsons has had recently with older women right around the country about the experience of being a woman and ageing. Over the course of these encounters, it became clear to Jacinta that the conversation about ageing for women is alive and bubbling with a kind of excitement – that is, women are ready to do ageing differently.
For this book, Jacinta mines wisdom directly from those who know how to do it well, those older women who say, This is what feels good.
Capturing the brewing tone of revolution that sits in the hearts of middle-aged and older women, A Wisdom of Age tells a different story about ageing – a story about reclaiming the fierce girl we have inside us; about an unapologetic taking up of space; about speaking out and re-finding our confidence; and finally, about wisdom.
