Cirrus@Austlit

'Where does Jo belong? Not back in England. Not in art school. Not even in Sydney, as the life she has just started to build is slipping away. So, with no clear path ahead, wanting adventure, wanting a clean slate – and needing to fulfil her visa requirements – the 27-year-old heads to Broome to spend a few months picking mangoes on a remote farm. She shrugs off her friend’s warnings about horror film scenarios and, upon arrival, is only a little bit unsettled by the display of missing persons posters at the bus stop.' (Introduction)

'Where the Light Gets In is Zoë Coyle’s debut novel and, much like its protagonist, it’s messy. Delphi is 26, living in London, and her life is just starting to slot into place. She’s met a guy and, after struggling to find a job after art school, has just had a really promising interview. Then her terminally ill mother calls with the words she’s been dreading – it is time. Delphi drops everything to head to Tasmania and fulfil her pledge to help her mother die on her own terms.' (Introduction)

'Ennis Ćehić has done something remarkable – in a book of 50 stories, only one of them reads like filler. Sadvertising feels complete, well rounded and carefully planned and structured.'  (Introduction)

'The image of wild horses running free is exhilarating. It speaks to independence, to poetry, to an Australia invoked by the words of Banjo Paterson. But when the wild horses have run, what is left in their wake?' (Introduction)

'Like a sexy Miss Marple, the Australian series has a deft touch and a title character who would still count as a challenging woman today' 

'Sinéad Stubbins writes paragraphs the way some people write entire short stories. In the space of three or four lines she has sketched out a narrative, led you to believe you know where it’s going, and then, right near the end, turned off in another direction. From there she carries on talking about the bigger idea she’s dissecting as though nothing has happened. It’s remarkable how effortless she makes it seem. An anecdote about watching Jurassic Park morphs into a brief comment on hypocrisy. A description of trying to figure out what a cocktail dress is suddenly becomes a high-stakes reference to Icarus flying too close to the sun. The movie Point Break somehow becomes the perfect analogy for gastrointestinal upset.' (Introduction)

'With a Netflix show and a headline at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, the surreal troupe Aunty Donna has come a long way from their Ballarat days. By Elizabeth Flux.'

'Two minutes into our conversation, Ted Prior says a series of words that at first make no sense to me: “The police force sent me to art school.”'