'Dark as Last Night confirms, once again, that Tony Birch is a master of the short story. These exceptional stories capture the importance of human connection at pivotal moments in our lives, whether those occur because of the loss of a loved one or the uncertainties of childhood. In this collection we witness a young girl struggling to protect her mother from her father’s violence, two teenagers clumsily getting to know one another by way of a shared love of music, and a man mourning the death of his younger brother, while beset by memories and regrets from their shared past. Throughout this powerful collection, Birch’s concern for the humanity of those who are often marginalised or overlooked shines bright.'
Source : publisher's blurb
Dedication:
For Charlie Atticus Burke
— arrived in the world on 27 November 2020 —
a cousin for Isabel Kit and Archie James.
'A collection of stories with shards of light peering through the darkness.'
Book It In : Tony Birch
Paul Daley
(interviewer),
2021
23740709
2021
single work
podcast
interview
'Paul Daley talks to Tony Birch about finding affection on the so-called margins of the inner city, the injustice of climate change and Blak humour. Birch also describes why he doesn’t view his fiction as having a political message'
At Home with Tony Birch
2021
23450178
2021
single work
podcast
interview
'Dr Tony Birch is an activist, historian and essayist. He is the author of three novels - The White Girl (winner of the 2020 NSW Premier's Award for Indigenous Writing and shortlisted for the 2020 Miles Franklin Literary Prize), Ghost River (winner of the 2016 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing), and Blood (shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award).
'He is also the author of Shadowboxing and four short story collections, Dark As Last Night, Father’s Day, The Promise and Common People, as well as the poetry collection Whisper Songs.' (Production introduction)
'‘And what is wrong with sad stories? The world is always sad.’ So advises Little Red, the aged, marginalised, knowing female character in the title story of Tony Birch’s latest short fiction collection. As in Birch’s previous works, Dark as Last Night contains an abundance of sad stories, but with grief and trauma ameliorated by the main protagonist’s affection for at least one other character, be it a family member or neighbour.' (Introduction)
'Tony Birch has published four short story collections in a little over a decade, a dedication to the form with few comparisons in contemporary Australian literature. He writes stories as Ernest Hemingway suggested a true practitioner of the craft should – with the devotion of a priest and the guts of a burglar – but he also shares with the great Modernist a determination to winnow inessentials. Perhaps because he was raised in straitened circumstances, Birch has become adept at making do with less.' (Introduction)
At Home with Tony Birch
2021
23450178
2021
single work
podcast
interview
'Dr Tony Birch is an activist, historian and essayist. He is the author of three novels - The White Girl (winner of the 2020 NSW Premier's Award for Indigenous Writing and shortlisted for the 2020 Miles Franklin Literary Prize), Ghost River (winner of the 2016 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing), and Blood (shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award).
'He is also the author of Shadowboxing and four short story collections, Dark As Last Night, Father’s Day, The Promise and Common People, as well as the poetry collection Whisper Songs.' (Production introduction)
Book It In : Tony Birch
Paul Daley
(interviewer),
2021
23740709
2021
single work
podcast
interview
'Paul Daley talks to Tony Birch about finding affection on the so-called margins of the inner city, the injustice of climate change and Blak humour. Birch also describes why he doesn’t view his fiction as having a political message'
