Cirrus@Austlit

'In its fortieth year, the UTS Writers’ Anthology is Australia’s longest running student series and remains highly regarded among its writing community. Well recognised as a breeding ground for emerging talent it has published the early writing of authors including Gillian Mears, Patti Miller, Toby Fitch, Alison Whittaker, MTC Cronin, Rachel Ward and Erica Harrison.

'‘[this book] offers its readers the timeless, vital gift of slantwise truth-telling.’ Emily Bitto

'This year, the writing remains exceptional. From crab blood running blue, to a girlfriend that’s literally the devil incarnate, from city-dwelling lambs to country-dwelling matriarchs, from a range of mothers – others’ mothers included – and poems, stories and essays that will make you laugh, cry, fear and hope, this collection from Australia’s newest writers offers a refreshing take on the current scene.' (Publication summary)

'Each year the UTS Writers’ Anthology showcases the best work from one of Australia’s most prestigious writing programs. This year’s anthology includes prose, fiction, poetry and screenplays from talented emerging writers.'(Publication summary)

'When a whale washes up on the shore of a beach there is only one surety: it must explode. Sometimes a bystander, anticipating the inevitable, pokes the gaseous figure; the skin rips, and it is done. Our world can feel like the brimming belly of a beached whale, the pressure building, an indeterminate force compelling us to take an explosive action, even when it makes little to no sense.

'A girl takes a pair of shears to a black-dashed line on her skin; a woman tries to stem the flow of snake venom in the blood of a man who is already dead; an epileptic wears a crash helmet ‘round the clock; a man with only one good arm cuts it off with a chainsaw, and how?

'After every explosion, a throng of people approach the beach cautiously, collecting the debris together.

'Introduced by celebrated Australian essayist, poet and critic, Fiona Wright, And Watch the Whale Explode is the 31st edition of the UTS Writers’ Anthology. ' (Publication summary)

'The UTS Writers’ Anthology is an annual publication produced by the University of Technology, Sydney. Students from the undergraduate, postgraduate and research programs submit their work anonymously, and a student editorial committee selects and edits the Anthology over a period of four months. In 2016, from over 300 submissions, the committee selected approximately 30 outstanding pieces.' (Publication summary)

'The UTS Writers’ Anthology is an annual publication produced by the University of Technology, Sydney. Students from the undergraduate, postgraduate and research programs submit their work anonymously, and a student editorial committee selects and edits the Anthology over a period of four months. In 2015, from over 300 submissions, the committee selected 30 outstanding pieces.

Over the years the Anthology has featured UTS alumni who have gone on to make names for themselves as authors. Gillian Mears, Bernard Cohen, Jill Jones, MTC Cronin, David Astle and Arabella Edge, along with more recent emerging authors such as P.M. Newton, Clinton Caward, Julie Chevalier and Isabelle Li, have all had early or indeed their first publications here.

'In addition, the Anthology has been supported by forewords from leading writers such as James Bradley, Delia Falconer, Nam Le and Anna Funder – many of whom have been involved with the UTS creative writing program, and who have acknowledged the outstanding talent of its students. In 2015 the Anthology features a foreword by the acclaimed author of Only the Animals, Ceridwen Dovey.' (Publication summary)

'The UTS Writers’ Anthology is an annual publication produced by the University of Technology, Sydney. Students from the undergraduate, postgraduate and research programs submit their work anonymously, and a student editorial committee selects and edits the Anthology over a period of four months. In 2014, from over 300 submissions, the committee selected 31 outstanding pieces.

'Over the years the Anthology has featured UTS alumni who have gone on to make names for themselves as authors. Gillian Mears, Bernard Cohen, Jill Jones, MTC Cronin, David Astle and Arabella Edge, along with more recent emerging authors such as P.M. Newton, Clinton Caward, Julie Chevalier and Isabelle Li, have all had early or indeed their first publications here.

'In addition, the Anthology has been supported by forewords from leading writers such as James Bradley, Delia Falconer, Nam Le and Anna Funder – many of whom have been involved with the UTS creative writing program, and who have acknowledged the outstanding talent of its students. In 2014 the Anthology features a foreword by the acclaimed author of Burial Rites, Hannah Kent.' (Publication summary)