critical acclaim
Vanessa de Largie is a very talented actor, writer and communicator.
As an actor, Vanessa always gives a deep, riveting and emotionally unique performance.
As a writer, Vanessa has the ability to tell hard hitting but informative stories that resonate with a wide readership.
As a communicator, Vanessa is an open-minded, honest, articulate and revealing public speaker, podcaster and media personality.
Daniel Scharf
Talent agent and producer of Romper Stomper
Vanessa is one of life’s natural polymaths: she acts, she dances, she writes and a lot more… And she does it all with great panache and a finely tuned instinct for the viscera, the inner turmoil, the bodily pleasures – and horrors. As a publisher, it was her writing that caught my eye: sheer, gutsy unadorned prose that dives on her subject like a morsel in the eye of a bird of prey….
Paul Ham
Acclaimed Australian Historian
Many moral crusaders seem driven by hunger for power. Take actor and writer, Vanessa de Largie.
Andrew Bolt
Journalist, Herald Sun
Vanessa de Largie’s wonderful fierce and tender sexuality reminds me of Anais Nin’s: she’s a woman who doesn’t deny her body and her desires but follows them unafraid and rejoicing. These days this sincerity makes her a truly refreshing voice – and a happy one to find.
Kate Holden
Australian author and former Age columnist
Yes, yes, YES! Ohmigod Yes! No sadly I’m not in the middle of a When Harry Met Sally orgasm, but I am screaming in agreement at Vanessa de Largie’s brilliant piece on how women want sex not romance.
Samantha X
Madam & Journalist - The Daily Telelgraph
Vanessa's writing is very powerful and quite haunting. Her creative almost poetic approach to the text, with its short journal-like sections, is unusual for a book on this subject, but it works very effectively to emphasise the fragmented, surreal nature of the narrator's experience. .
Teresa Pitt
Former commissioning editor at Penguin Books Australia, Simon & Schuster Australia and Lothian Books
One of the reasons that Vanessa de Largie is one of the best sex writers around is because she can always make us consider the many different sides to a situation. As Vanessa notes, slut shaming is so ingrained in our society, people may not even know they are propagating these hurtful ideas.
Jon Pressick
Canadian Sexpert - Kinkly
Vanessa de Largie is a writer with the courage to explore subject matter other writers would choose to defer, deny or dilute. She articulates truths so close to the bone, you feel like you're in the room with her (sometimes when you'd rather not be). Her work jumps off the page, grabs you by the scruff of the neck and drags you along at breakneck speed - leaving you thrilled, exhausted, exhilarated. You'll need to talk about it.
Paul Kooperman
Former CEO of Australian Poetry and social entrepreneur
I first met Vanessa de Largie at a film festival in Brussels in 2008, which was a delight. I have come to know Vanessa as an incredibly versatile, ambitious and highly committed multi-talent, who knows what she wants and genuinely cares about people.
Ton van Rooij
Dutch journalist and film critic
In "A Nocturne: Night of The Vampire, de Largie is most definitely the most striking thing about the film, and while it never really goes much of anywhere, she proves she can carry a somber horror film on her shoulders.
Mondo Digital SICK PICKS
De Largie's 'Don't Hit Me!' is powerfully written. It's a hard book to read because it is so emotionally disturbing, but important and courageous.
Gretchen Wagner
Senior reviewer - San Francisco Book Review
It was difficult to read some sections of "Don't Hit Me" but strangely it grips you and won't let go. I've read this many times over and it's one of the most outstanding, pure and honest sections of poetry I've ever read. There may be fewer words in this book than others but these are delivered with a potent force that imprints the reader.
Mr Baz
#1 Amazon Hall of Fame Reviewer - Amazon UK
Vanessa's words often seem to embrace the male perspective but there is a certain overtwist, an irritating contradictive friction that plays with concepts of power and indulgence.
Jan van Rijn
German artist
Vanessa's writing style is direct and has a real immediacy to it. There is an understated beauty to it as well that is hard to describe. It reminds me a little of both Dorothy Porter and Anna Akhmatova.
Jennifer Muirhead
Chief Editor - A Comfy Chair
No other book on the subject captures the bare-bones process of survival as does Don't Hit Me: hopefully readers in similar circumstances will not only recognize the pain, fear and anger, but will come to understand the process that ultimately led Vanessa de Largie to become a survivor instead of a statistic.
Diane Donovan
Midwest Book Review
I met Vanessa de Largie some years ago after we'd worked on a Literary Festival script-reading together and later when she acted in a feature film of mine. Subsequently, I attended performances of plays she performed in. Again, the excellence of her beautifully nuanced performance was remarkable. Over the years, I've been very impressed with Vanessa's commitment to acting and devotion to a number of disciplines associated with the performing arts.
Angelo Salamanca
Australian director and screenwriter
Vanessa is as bold and brave and accomplished in her writing as she is in her acting. She puts up no veils between herself and the reader. Truth is her religion, and insight and sensitivity are the tools of her craftsmanship. I've always found that when you write something with truth at the heart of it - people will respond. In a world where movies and books are full of phony emotions based on things not experienced by the writer but instead taught to them in some class on how to make a fast buck in an equally phony industry, Vanessa is a beacon of light. She is simply, the real deal.
Frank Howson
Award-winning movie director, playwright and best-selling author
Looming large and over this year’s Sexy International Film Festival – despite its myriad other attractions – was the preternatural presence of versatile and local actor Vanessa de Largie. De Largie first came to Cultural Cringe’s notice in the extraordinary 2007 vampire film, Nocturne Night Of The Vampire, where her natural ability, unearthly beauty and her sheer presence, like that of an old time Hollywood star complimented gorgeously - the director's style.
Tony McMahon
Journalist, Inpress Magazine
I would like to say that everyone should read 'Don't Hit Me!' because if enough people vicariously experience humanity's brokenness - we might be able to help fix it.
Official Online Bookclub
Ms. de Largie's self-serving claim not to be a "conservative" is debunked by a quick google search. She is just a purveyor of standard extreme RWNJ tropes, a wannabe Bettina Arndt.
Ken Parish
Former Australian politician