Melanie Joosten Melanie Joosten i(A70789 works by)
Born: Established: 1981 ;
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 Show Your Working : Melanie Joosten Melanie Joosten , 2024 single work column
— Appears in: Kill Your Darlings [Online] , June 2024;
1 3 y separately published work icon Like Fire-Hearted Suns Melanie Joosten , Ultimo : Ultimo Press , 2024 27254929 2024 single work novel historical fiction

'London, 1908. It’s the dawn of a new century and change is in the air.

'When 17-year-old Beatrice Taylor stumbles across the offices of the infamous Pankhursts and the Women’s Social and Political Union she begins to realise her future may not be the one she wants.

'Her friend Catherine Dawson is too pragmatic to get caught up in the women’s suffrage movement. Despite Oxford refusing to award women degrees she is determined to keep apace with her twin brother and pursue a career in science.

'Meanwhile, Ida Bennett, recently promoted to head wardress of DX wing at Holloway Prison, has her work cut out for her. The suffragette inmates are refusing to be treated like criminals—and Ida's not having any of it.

'This is the story of three women whose lives become entwined—with the burgeoning women’s movement and with each other. Like Fire-Hearted Suns shows how much things have changed for women—and how much they stay the same.'  (Publication summary)

1 2 y separately published work icon A Lasting Conversation : Stories on Ageing Susan Ogle (editor), Melanie Joosten (editor), Blackheath : Brandl and Schlesinger , 2020 18434853 2020 anthology short story prose

'A Lasting Conversation: Stories on Ageing explores many aspects of ageing including resilience and defeat, satisfaction and regret, excitement and fear, love, loss and laughter. These stories are written from various perspectives, including older women and men, their daughters and sons, grandchildren and observers. They present a fascinating picture of what it is to grow old as an Australian. Each story is infused with acute observations and wry humour.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

1 y separately published work icon The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood Melanie Joosten , Melbourne : CAE Book Group , 2017 12214849 2017 single work criticism
1 Amy Witting and the Art of the Long Game Melanie Joosten , 2017 single work criticism
— Appears in: Amy Witting : Selected Stories 2017; (p. vii-xiv)

'With a hint of a sorrow akin to regret it is often noted that Amy Witting only received public recognition and critical acclaim for her work towards the end of her life. Her late blooming is usually accounted for with mention of how the pressures of a teaching career and the responsibilities of bringing up a family stymied her creative out put in a manner not unusual for women, then and now. The truth, as it so often is, is a little more complicated.' (Introduction)

1 4 y separately published work icon Gravity Well Melanie Joosten , Brunswick : Scribe , 2017 10321065 2017 single work novel

'Lotte is an astronomer who spends her nights peering into deep space rather than looking too closely at herself. When she returns to her hometown after years in South America, reeling from a devastating diagnosis, she finds that much has changed. Lotte’s father has remarried, and she feels like an outsider in the house she grew up in. She’s estranged from her former best friend, Eve, who is busy with her own life, and unsure of how to recover the closeness they once shared. Initially, Lotte's return causes disharmony, but then it is the catalyst for a much more devastating event — an event that will change Lotte and Eve's lives forever.

'If families are like solar systems — bodies that orbit in time with one another, sometimes close and sometimes far away — what is the force that drives them? And what are the consequences when the weight of one planet tugs others off course?

'The long-awaited second novel from the award-winning Melanie Joosten, Gravity Well is a striking and tender tale of friendship and family: both the family we are born to, and the family we choose. Deeply compassionate and profoundly moving, it is a heartrending portrait of how we rebuild when the worst has happened.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

1 To the Exclusion of All Others Melanie Joosten , 2016 single work prose
— Appears in: Kill Your Darlings , January no. 24 2016; (p. 21-34)
'Ageing parents and progressing relationships may forge a difficult path for all, but what differences lie beyond the cosmetic for those in intercultural relationships?' (21)
1 5 y separately published work icon A Long Time Coming : Essays on Old Age Melanie Joosten , Fremantle : Vivid Publishing , 2016 9029520 2016 selected work essay

'This collection of thought-provoking essays explores what it means to grow old in our youth-obsessed world.

'Improved health care and increased standards of living mean that each generation is living longer than the last. Rather than heralding this as a success, governments see our ageing population as an imminent disaster and old age as a medical problem. In response, we are encouraged to remain active, stay healthy and work longer — in short, to refuse becoming old. But if living longer is really about staying young, do we risk turning a blind eye to issues facing the elderly?

'Written with intelligence and compassion, Joosten’s pieces consider the housing crisis as it affects older people, the politics of nursing-home care, the realities of dementia, and women’s changing relationship to their bodies as they age. Weaving interviews with research and personal essay, Joosten undertakes a timely and clearsighted investigation into what it means to age in a world focused on the young. Arguing that every one of us has the right to be old while maintaining integrity, these essays ask us to reconsider our individual and collective experiences to find meaning and come to terms with growing old.' (Publication summary)

1 The Right to Be Old Melanie Joosten , 2016 extract essay (A Long Time Coming : Essays on Old Age)
— Appears in: Inside Story , June 2016;

'Ageing needs to be treated as a state of living rather than failing, argues Melanie Joosten in this extract from her new book'

1 y separately published work icon This House of Grief by Helen Garner Melanie Joosten , Melbourne : CAE Book Group , 2015 9463871 2015 single work criticism
1 y separately published work icon Questions of Travel by Michelle de Kretser Melanie Joosten , Melbourne : CAE Book Group , 2014 7593406 2014 single work criticism
1 y separately published work icon The Mother's Group by Fiona Higgins : Notes Melanie Joosten , Victoria : Centre for Adult Education , 2013 Z1933776 2013 single work criticism
1 The Sky Was Herding Disappointments Melanie Joosten , 2013 single work short story
— Appears in: Meanjin , vol. 72 no. 1 2013; (p. 104-112)
1 Just Like Us Melanie Joosten , 2013 single work short story
— Appears in: Kill Your Darlings , September no. 15 2013; (p. 96-108) The Best Australian Stories 2014 2014; (p. 230-239)

''If you could just fill out this form with your contact details and those of your referees. Pass the rest along.' The woman handed a sheaf of papers to the couple standing at her front door...'

1 Reading Doris Lessing and Meeting Maudie Fowler : Notes on Writing and Doing Good Melanie Joosten , 2012 single work autobiography
— Appears in: Meanjin , Autumn vol. 71 no. 1 2012; (p. 138-146)
'Like many who will be reading this, I write. I always have, even before I knew how. When I was four my mother would find me filling notebooks with infinite cursive 'e's, line after biro line of them, pages of stories that could never be read. 'That's very good practice,' she would praise me, but my face would burn with the embarrassment of not yet knowing how to properly do this thing that seemed to me the key to all understanding.' (Author's abstract)
1 France, Army, Head of the Army, Josephine Melanie Joosten , 2012 single work short story
— Appears in: The Sleepers Almanac No. 8 2012; (p. 93-102)
1 12 y separately published work icon Berlin Syndrome Melanie Joosten , Carlton North : Scribe , 2011 Z1773756 2011 single work novel thriller

'2006, Berlin. The once-divided city still holds its share of secrets.

'One afternoon, near the tourist trap of Checkpoint Charlie, Clare meets Andi. He's a native Berliner and English teacher; she's an architectural photographer who has taken leave from her job in Australia to travel through Eastern Europe. There is an instant attraction, and when Andi invites her to stay, Clare thinks she may finally have found somewhere to call home.

'But as the days pass and the walls of Andi's apartment close in, Clare begins to wonder if it's really love that Andi is after ... or something more sinister.' (From the publisher's website.)

1 Handyman Melanie Joosten , 2011 single work short story
— Appears in: Summer Shorts 2011;
1 Utopia i "I don't smell like love", Melanie Joosten , 2002 single work poetry
— Appears in: Going Down Swinging , no. 20 2002; (p. 50-51)
1 Friday Night, 11.02 i "Victoria is crying", Melanie Joosten , 2001 single work poetry
— Appears in: Anthology : New Words and Pictures by Young Australians 2001; (p. 3)
X