IN SHORT Fiction

Sydney Morning Herald
17 June 2006

Copyright
Reproduced with permission

IN SHORT Fiction

UTS Writers' Anthology 2006
Report Michael McGirr

Most of these aspiring writers seem to have stuck to the adage that tells newcomers to write about what they know. The best have also followed the second part of the adage - to make sure they know something interesting, something the rest of us don't.

There are impressive stories in this student collection. One is Pam Newton's The Mango Tree, a tale about a corrupt policeman and his tortured wife. The story doesn't allow the cop too many shades but its macabre ending effectively denies the reader a longed-for moment of revenge.

Jennifer Robertson's An Anarchist and a Mother beautifully observes the vulnerability of a young woman as it draws her mother out of hiding. It also has a fine ear for dialogue, not always a strong point in an age when some authors listen most carefully to themselves. Honours also to Sarah-Jane Norman (Permafrost), Sophie Lee-Jenkins (Suitcases) and Briony Stocker, whose Buying back the Farm is set at Christmas time in a deranged Zimbabwe.

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.