Yumna Kassab Yumna Kassab i(10509602 works by)
Gender: Female
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Works By

Preview all
1 y separately published work icon The Theory of Everything Yumna Kassab , Ultimo : Ultimo Press , 2025 28936855 2025 single work prose

'Good News: The worst has already happened.

'Bad News: Even worse is on the way.

'This is a fictional theory, a rant, a manifesto, an engagement or disengagement with the times, a record; it is bearing witness, a dramatisation of actual events, a horror-scape, either a monologue or dialogue, a testament, travel guide, handbook, textbook, potential encyclopaedia; it is five mini-novels or else five post-novels, an epic, a drop in the ocean, an homage, a reference, one long secret handshake, an agreement, a wink; it is an explosion of form, tangential, discursive, a firming of the foundations, a lament, an absurdist comedy with realism that is as realistic as it gets; it is a spectrum, shades of black from the dark to the next shade up from white, a proliferation, a step-back, a righting, a note to oneself, a line in the sand or a gust in the form of a structure-shaking gale; it is a dance (a two-footed, single-person line dance), an experiment, pure science, flicking the finger; it is, of course, backing away, crossing the street and avoiding eye contact; it is fantasy, humour, a romance without any leads, a defiance, a subdued rebellion, an anti-philosophical philosophy; it is pacifism that instigates a fight, a denouncement in the form of a laugh, an exploration, an adventure, a time-lapse, a panorama, a conclusion, you may just have to read the theory because these are just alluding-to-the-theory words.' (Publication summary)

1 The Ghost of 48 Yumna Kassab , 2024 single work essay
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , October 2024;

'With characteristic allegorical obliquity, Yumna Kassab shows how the thematics of haunting and possession in ghost stories offer a way to address the historical nightmares that continue to grip us in the present.' (Introduction)

1 4 y separately published work icon Politica Yumna Kassab , Ultimo : Ultimo Press , 2024 26416333 2024 single work novel

A captivating literary journey that delves into the intertwined lives of a town, its people, and a region shaped by revolution and war.

'The war broke out and she decided to call her dad.
Weeks and weeks we do not speak, and the weeks become months and then they are so many years.
She imagines herself starting this story.
She imagines how she will tell this story later to someone else.
We hadn't spoken for years but then the war broke out...

'As conflict plays out across an unnamed region, its inhabitants deal with the fallout. Families are torn apart and brought together. A divide grows between those on either side of the war, compromises are struck as the toll of violence impacts near and far. We learn about those who are left behind and those who choose to leave in a great scattering. As the stories of those affected play out they weave together to show the whole of a society in the most extreme of circumstances. Even after the last shot is fired, their world will never recover.

'From the acclaimed author of The House of YoussefAustraliana and The Lovers comes a powerful new novel that asks again if it’s possible to ever measure the personal cost of war.' (Publication summary)

1 Vanishing Bolano Yumna Kassab , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: Critic Swallows Book : Ten Years of the Sydney Review of Books 2023;
1 Game Theory – Part II Yumna Kassab , 2023 single work short story
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 22-28 July 2023;
1 Disturbances Yumna Kassab , 2022 single work short story
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 29 October - 4 November 2022;
1 6 y separately published work icon The Lovers Yumna Kassab , Ultimo : Ultimo Press , 2022 25023144 2022 single work novel

'What happens when we become used to each other, when we become bored, when we anticipate each other’s moods like the seasons cycled in a day? What happens when you are tired of me and I tire of you?

'Every couple has a story. How they met, how they fell in love – their ups, their downs. What made them want to be in each other's arms day and night. The struggle of family expectations. The need to please each other, the desire to go their separate ways. It is about the private universe between two people as they try to hold to each other despite the barriers of geography, culture and class.

'Every couple has a beginning, a middle, and maybe an end.

'The Lovers is an enchanting fable that explores the light and dark of a relationship – a love distilled down to its barest form. You might think you know this story. Maybe you do.'  (Publication summary)

1 Old Gods i "Our old gods they are called false they are cut from the land", Yumna Kassab , 2022 single work poetry
— Appears in: Griffith Review , no. 76 2022; (p. 42)
1 Three Takes Yumna Kassab , 2022 single work short story
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 19-25 March 2022;
1 6 y separately published work icon Australiana Yumna Kassab , Ultimo : Ultimo Press , 2022 23057993 2022 single work novel

'When the river runs dry, the town runs red.

​'This could be any small town. It aches under the heat of summer. It flourishes in the cooler months. Everyone knows everyone. Their families, histories and stories are interwoven and well-known by one and all. Or at least, they think they are. But no-one sees anything quite the same way. Perceptions differ, truths are elusive, judgements have outcomes and everything is connected. For better or for worse.

'This is a version of small-town Australia that is recognisable, both familiar and new, exploring the characters, threads, and connections that detail everyday life to reveal a much bigger story. A tapestry that makes up this place called home.

'From the acclaimed author of The House of Youssef comes this extraordinary and unique novel shining a light on Australian rural life.'

Source : publication summary

1 Borges and the Tiger Yumna Kassab , 2021 single work essay
— Appears in: Second City : Essays from Western Sydney 2021;
1 Game Theory Yumna Kassab , 2021 single work short story
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 7-13 August 2021;
1 The Game Yumna Kassab , 2021 single work short story
— Appears in: Overland , no. 240 2021;
1 Two Begging Stories Yumna Kassab , 2021 single work
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 13-19 February 2021;
1 Erasure i "Dispossession is increments a tree a plot the river a continent a bite at a time", Yumna Kassab , 2020 single work poetry
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , October no. 97 and 98 2020;
1 Quartet Yumna Kassab , 2020 single work prose
— Appears in: Meanjin , Spring vol. 79 no. 3 2020;
1 Mob Justice Yumna Kassab , 2020 single work short story
— Appears in: Meanjin , Autumn vol. 79 no. 1 2020;
1 The Last Drop Yumna Kassab , 2020 single work short story
— Appears in: Meanjin , Autumn vol. 79 no. 1 2020;
1 The Hostage Sky Yumna Kassab , 2020 single work short story
— Appears in: Meanjin , Autumn vol. 79 no. 1 2020;
1 Shelf Reflection : Yumna Kassab Yumna Kassab , 2019 single work column
— Appears in: Kill Your Darlings [Online] , September 2019;
X