'I try to make sense of her sudden absence but every hour, every minute, brings some new and usually terrifying development.'
'A hole has opened up in the system that takes pride of place in the Australian identity – our ability to bring produce to market. But change is coming.'
'For most Australians, two events of biblical solemnity will define this year: fire and plague. How should we respond?'
'Aboriginal heritage and the natural environment need to be at the centre of national reconstruction.'
'I have no great hope we will use this chance to transform for the better – but this is an unconvincing darkness, and we do not have to stay in it.'
'The overarching project of my life has been making myself safe. But what is the point if everyone else is drowning and burning and starving?'
'Covid gives us an opportunity to weigh up what truly belongs and what can be left back in the life before the plague.'
'It seems that every problem that has rumbled beneath our feet for the past 60 years has hit crisis point, all at once.'
'In a world without coronavirus, there are conversations that might never have happened. Their nature, too, is different'
'For one brief shining moment it seemed humanity’s inability to imagine much beyond our lived experience was irrelevant. Covid was coming for us all.'
'Misinformation and dangerous conspiracy theories thrive when people are stressed and alone. At this moment democratic society desperately needs strong journalism.'
'‘Stop the world’ the musical hero said whenever things went wrong. I’ve been feeling this way for a few years now.'
'If there was a moment of true emergency in the fight to preserve our climate, it is now.'
'The global story unfolding is not only about microbes; it is also about culture, politics and history. The spread of disease is not without responsibility.'
'We have a sense of what it means to live in disturbing times, to live under threat. We should not forget the many people who have known this all their lives.'
Fire Flood Plague : Australian Writers Respond to 2020
Sophie Cunningham
(editor),
Melbourne
:
Vintage Australia
,
2020
19897834
2020
anthology
essay
'Leading Australian writers respond to the challenges of 2020, to create a vital cultural record of these extraordinary times.
'Writers, scientists, historians, journalists and commentators consider subjects as broad as culture and the arts, working as a doctor, travel, domestic violence, security, immigration, the death of a loved one, geopolitics, distance and zoom to ensure we never forget the experience of this pile-on of a year.
'Including original pieces from Lenore Taylor, Nyadol Nuon, Christos Tsiolkas, Melissa Lucashenko, Billy Griffiths, Jess Hill, Kim Scott, Brenda Walker, Jane Rawson, Omar Sakr, Richard McGregor, Jennifer Mills, Gabrielle Chan, John Birmingham, Tim Flannery, Rebecca Giggs, Kate Cole-Adams, George Megalogenis, James Bradley, Alison Croggan, Melanie Cheng, Kirsten Tranter, Tom Griffiths, Joelle Gergis and Delia Falconer.' (Publication summary)
At Home with Sophie Cunningham
Astrid Edwards
(interviewer),
2020
23451819
2020
single work
podcast
interview
'Sophie Cunningham is the editor behind the 2020 anthology Fire, Flood, Plague. She is also the author of six books, including City of Trees and Warning: The Story of Cyclone Tracy.
'Sophie is a former publisher and editor, was a co-founder of the Stella Prize and is now an Adjunct Professor at RMIT University’s Non/fiction Lab. In 2019 Sophie Cunningham was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her contributions to literature.' (Production introduction)
'This lousy year, while the world has been ravaged, Australia’s remoteness has rendered our experience utterly singular. Fire Flood Plague, brainchild of the Copyright Agency, begins with a bleak time line that gives us ample opportunity to digest the pummelling we’ve been meted: “January 14: With fires raging across NSW and temperatures reaching 49ºC, Premier Gladys Berejiklian declares a state of emergency. Air quality in Melbourne is the worst in the world.” For this anthology, Sophie Cunningham curates a coterie of writers who help to shift the political discourse and emphasise just how rapidly it needs to advance.' (Introduction)
'This lousy year, while the world has been ravaged, Australia’s remoteness has rendered our experience utterly singular. Fire Flood Plague, brainchild of the Copyright Agency, begins with a bleak time line that gives us ample opportunity to digest the pummelling we’ve been meted: “January 14: With fires raging across NSW and temperatures reaching 49ºC, Premier Gladys Berejiklian declares a state of emergency. Air quality in Melbourne is the worst in the world.” For this anthology, Sophie Cunningham curates a coterie of writers who help to shift the political discourse and emphasise just how rapidly it needs to advance.' (Introduction)
At Home with Sophie Cunningham
Astrid Edwards
(interviewer),
2020
23451819
2020
single work
podcast
interview
'Sophie Cunningham is the editor behind the 2020 anthology Fire, Flood, Plague. She is also the author of six books, including City of Trees and Warning: The Story of Cyclone Tracy.
'Sophie is a former publisher and editor, was a co-founder of the Stella Prize and is now an Adjunct Professor at RMIT University’s Non/fiction Lab. In 2019 Sophie Cunningham was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her contributions to literature.' (Production introduction)
