2019: Infinite Threads

Infinite Threads brings together a diverse collection of short fiction, non-fiction and poetry from the celebrated creative writing program at the University of Technology Sydney. The foreword is by celebrated Gomeroi poet and legal researcher, Alison Whittaker.

Beginning under the stars on the Hume highway after midnight, and ending below the loose stones separating us from the afterlife, Infinite Threads weaves together 29 unique works spanning fiction, nonfiction, poetry and playwriting. Themes both strange and familiar are tangled in its pages, leading the reader on a journey through shifting perspectives, places and times.

Infinite Threads is now available online at Dymocks and Booktopia and in-store around the country. 

Published by XOUM, an imprint of Brio Books, Infinite Threads is one of the most ambitious and resonant anthologies in the publication’s prestigious 33-year history. Conceptualised, designed, edited and publicised by a student Editorial Committee, Infinite Threads follows a long tradition showcasing the depth of talent emerging from the UTS Creative Writing program.

This year's writers include Helen Meany, Judi Morison, Maalika Jacobs, Sydney Khoo, Christine Afoa, Luka Skandle, Jocelyn Prasad, Lachlan Parry, Kylie Keogh, Ruth Armstrong, Benjamin Giles, Catherine Mah, Keely Fleming, Josipa Kosanovic, Erica Wheadon, Chloe Michele, Susie Newton, Zerene Joy Catacutan, Cameron Stewart, Sophie Chandler, Ivona Alavanja, Verity Borthwick, James Gardiner, Jane Sharman, Hanan Merheb, Moneera Mellick, Benjamin Lee, David Naylor, CJ Vallis and Joanne Anderton.

2019 Anthology Prize

Winner of the UTS Anthology Writing Prize

• CJ Vallis - ‘We’ve Come All This Way’

Shortlisted authors

• Sophie Chandler - ‘Bitumen Tightrope’

• Catherin Mah - ‘The Towers’

• Ruth Armstrong - ‘Forgetting How To Swim’

• Ben Giles - ‘Snorkelling By Numbers’

Featured contributors

Hanan Merheb

Hanan Merheb is in her final year of undergraduate study in Communication at UTS. Her short fiction piece, Speak Samira, is about a Lebanese-migrant grandmother and her granddaughter, who is lost between the two worlds of her Australian home and her Lebanese culture. Inspired by her own grandmother, and Hanan’s experiences post-high school, having this story be published in this year’s anthology is sort of a life-changing moment. As the first story she’s ever written about characters that share her ethnicity and religion, it’s proof that these stories, her stories, are wanted to be heard just as much as any others. 

James Gardiner

James Gardiner is currently studying a Bachelor of Communication (Honours). His poems within the suite ‘Sydney Snippets’ consider relationships between place and identity and emerged after revisiting formative suburbs from his childhood. He feels lucky to be included among writers he’s long admired, and appreciates the opportunity to contribute to the writing culture and body of work of emerging Sydney writers.
 

Jane Sharman

Jane Sharman is currently studying a Graduate Diploma in Creative Writing. ‘Darryl of the Sea’ is a portrait of a man whose connection to Sydney’s iconic fashion scene of the late 1960’s was as glamorous as the name he adopted. These days, his connections run deep in the local community, despite living on its fringes. Jane says, “This is my first publication. I’m thrilled to be part of this renowned Anthology and one of the diverse voices of Infinite Threads.”
 

Benjamin Lee

Benjamin Lee is currently doing a Graduate Diploma in Creative Writing. His short story ‘Breaking Point’ was a cathartic experience for him. The story is based on his own struggle with recent grief, and memories of his days in the office of a plastic bag factory. Being chosen to be published in the anthology was a complete shock to Ben. It has been the most unexpected piece of good news at a time when his life is undergoing much upheaval and redirection.

Susie Newton

Susie Newton is studying Law and International Studies at UTS, and is also part of this year's editorial team for the student magazine Vertigo. Her piece 'Robertson Inn' is a short story based on her experiences at an old job in her small home town. It explores the culture of country pubs, through glimpses into the lives of locals and frank observations made by the narrator. She is stoked to have been chosen for the 2019 UTS Anthology. This will be the first time Susie has been published. 
 

David Naylor

David Naylor is in the final year of his Master of Arts in Creative Writing at UTS, and is thrilled to be included in the UTS Writers’ Anthology for the second year running. ‘Getting published anywhere is highly competitive and rejection can be devastating,’ he says. ‘So scoring a place in Infinite Threads is a huge encouragement.’ For The Year of the Pondeosa, David was driven by a combination of two experiences: memories of a late-night coffee lounge called the Ponderosa that he and his friends used to go to in the late 1960s (‘I’ve been alive a long time’), and a difficult period in his life when he tried to write his way out of grief. ‘There’s a lot of me in this story,’ he says, ‘but it’s still fiction, emerging from an imagination that was, at the time, coloured by my own loss.’

Lachlan Parry

Lachlan Parry studied a Bachelor of Communication at UTS, with majors in Media Arts and Production and Creative Writing. His piece takes the shape of letters that all pose the question, what would you say if you knew the person would never read it? With a central queer theme, it allowed him to explore different aspects of the community and the stories he wanted to tell. Lachlan says, 'Being published in the anthology is a massive honour, having read them over my time at UTS, it feels like the perfect way to finish as my degree comes to a close.'

 

Praise for the UTS Writers' Anthology

The UTS Anthology, which started in 1982, has been an integral aspect of our literary landscape, providing highly gifted and mostly young writers - Nam Le is one often mentioned - from one of Australia's longest standing writing schools with a place to publish.

Literary journals provide quirky proof of print's durability
Hugo Bowne-Anderson,
The Australian