Writing and Society Research Centre

These are some of the books published by Writing and Society research students. Some of these titles were published from PhD theses and creative works produced in our DCA program, while others have been written and published by our students independently.

Fiona Wright, Knuckled, Published by Giramondo, 2011

The poems in Knuckled are themselves bony and assertive, stripped down to the detail, which appeals in its physical quality and the manner in which it is offered, as much as in its compression of feeling. There is a strong sense of the social in Wright’s focus and selection: her details embody attitudes, prejudices, anxieties, identifications; they evoke the histories and mythologies embedded in family lore; and they carry an awareness of belonging in place. »Read More (opens in a new window)

Christopher Kremmer The Chase, published by Picador, 2011

When young scientist Jean Campbell is invited to help root out drugs in sport, she enters a murky world where power, privilege, money and illicit practices mix easily. It is Australia in the 1940s, the war is over, and Jean and her charismatic boss Howard Carter risk everything to expose the cruel underbelly of the 'sport of kings'. But old-school racehorse trainer Martin Foley refuses to go quietly, and his influence and 'connections' go straight to the highest echelons of polite society. »Read More (opens in a new window)

Meg Mundell Black Glass, published by Scribe, 2011

Tally and Grace are teenage sisters living on the outskirts of society, dragged from one no-hope town to the next by their fugitive father. When an explosion rips their lives apart, they flee separately to the city. The girls had always imagined that beyond the remote regions lay another, brighter world: glamorous, promising, full of luck. But as each soon discovers, if you arrive there broke, homeless, and alone, the city is a dangerous place — a place where commerce and surveillance rule, and undocumented people like themselves are confined to life’s shady margins.
  »Read More (opens in a new window)

Jesse Blackadder Raven's Heart, published by Harper Collins, 2011

A ship carries Mary, the young Queen of Scots, home from the French court to wrest back control of her throne. Masquerading as a male crew member, Alison Blackadder must find a way to gain the Queen′s favour so she can win back her family′s castle and lands, cruelly stolen by a murderous clan a generation before. »Read More (opens in a new window)

Martin Edmond Dark Night Walking with McCahon,published by Auckland University Press, September 2011

 In 1984, Colin McCahon went missing for 24 hours in Sydney. Found the next morning, kilometres from where he started, he had no memory of who he was or where he had been. In this work of creative non-fiction, Martin Edmond traces McCahon's potential footsteps, past pubs and monuments, art galleries and churches, barracks and parks: to accompany him some way into the darkness of his end. »Read More (opens in a new window)

Felicity Castagna Small Indiscretions, published by Transit Lounge, August 2011

Castagna’s twenty stories range across countries including Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and China, deftly exploring the relationships of parents and children, lovers and enemies, the transient and the resident. In the spirit of the best travel literature, Castagna’s fiction powerfully captures the landscapes and cultures of Asia and the intriguing interactions of Westerners with it. »Read More (opens in a new window)

The Penguin Plays Rough Book of Short Stories, edited by Pip Smith, launched at the Sydney Writer's Festival, 2011

A beautifully produced collection of stories drawn from monthly readings at Penguin Plays Rough, which Pip established in 2008 to showcase the work of emerging and established writers. »Read More (opens in a new window)

Kristel Thornell Night Street, published by Allen & Unwin, 2010

Night Street is the passionate story of a young painter, Clarice Beckett, who defies society's strict conventions and indifferent art critics alike and leads an intense private and professional life. With her extraordinary talent for making simple city and seascapes haunting and mysteriously revelatory, Clarice paints prolifically and lives largely, overcoming the seemingly confined existence as the spinster daughter in the parental home. »Read More (opens in a new window)

Walter Mason Destination Saigon, published by Allen & Unwin, 2010

From the crazy heat and colour of Saigon to the quieter splendour of Hanoi, Walter Mason gives us a rare, joyous and at times hilarious insight into twenty-first century Vietnam. Seduced by the beauty and charm of its people, and the sensuousness of its culture, we can almost taste the little coconut cakes cooked over a fire in a smoky Can Tho kitchen, or smell the endless supplies of fresh baguettes and croissants just out of city ovens. »Read More (opens in a new window)

Kate Middleton, Fire Season, published by Giramondo, 2009 

The poems in Fire Season are illuminated by the intensity of everyday experience, dwelling in situations of want or absence, or radiant in the aura of those legendary beings, the heroines and monsters of film and story and myth, around whom the drama of life is concentrated. »Read More (opens in a new window)

Stephanie Dowrick In the Company of Rilke, published by Allen & Unwin, 2009

Stephanie Dowrick invites us into the transcendent and piercingly beautiful world of the much-loved early 20th century European poet, Rainer Maria Rilke and reveals how through his poetry we can connect with our inner life. »Read More (opens in a new window)

Matthew Thomson My Columbian Death Book, published by Pan Macmillan, 2008

Kidnappings, car bombs, cocaine, paramilitaries, bullfights, the Amazon and madness. Welcome to Colombia, where life is cheap and so are the drugs. In 2006, Matt Thompson travelled to Colombia in search of the life he might have led. Born to American parents, Matt's father was offered a post which would have taken the family to Bogota, but he turned it down because it was too high risk. »Read More (opens in a new window)