Helen Gildfind Helen Gildfind i(A84057 works by) (a.k.a. H. C. Gildfind)
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 H.C. Gildfind Reviews Everything, All at Once Helen Gildfind , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: Mascara Literary Review , no. 28 2022;

— Review of Everything, All At Once : Fiction and Poetry from 30 of Australia's Best Writers under 30 2021 anthology short story poetry

'Everything, all at Once presents fiction and poetry from the ‘thirty writers under thirty’ who won the inaugural Ultimo prize in 2021. This prize asked entrants to explore the theme of ‘identity’—a pertinent choice, considering how central and contested particular identities (and the notion of identity itself) have become in cultural and political conversations. This theme is also apt, of course, for a collection that offers young people a stepping-stone in their journey to ‘come of age’ both as individuals and as professional writers.' (Introduction)

1 2 y separately published work icon Born Sleeping Helen Gildfind , Miami : Miami University Press , 2021 21926802 2021 single work novel

'By recounting one woman's real-time witnessing of a couple's experience of stillbirth, Born Sleeping explores the ambivalence that lies at the heart of human relationships, the difficulty of comprehending others' realities, the voyeurism of being on the outside of trauma and the disturbingly cool, detached eye of the writer.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

1 H.C. Gildfind Reviews A Constant Hum by Alice Bishop Helen Gildfind , 2020 single work review
— Appears in: Mascara Literary Review , August no. 25 2020;

— Review of A Constant Hum Alice Bishop , 2019 selected work short story

'In the acknowledgements that append her short story collection, A Constant Hum, Alice Bishop states that her book is intended to keep ‘in mind’ the people who died in Black Saturday (199). Though Bishop lost a house in those fires, she says she cannot imagine ‘how it would really feel’ to have lost family, friends, or a partner (199). Her writing, however, derives from a genuine attempt to comprehend these experiences—and results in a book that acts as a memorial for the dead, as a tribute to the survivors, and as a means for others to engage in the motivated and directed acts of imagination that constitute empathy.' (Introduction)

1 Unseen Shapes of Ourselves Helen Gildfind , 2020 single work review
— Appears in: TEXT : The Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs , April vol. 24 no. 1 2020;

— Review of The Returns Philip Salom , 2019 single work novel
'The Returns is something of a sequel to Salom’s Waiting (2017): both novels are set in a vividly evoked North Melbourne and both chart the evolving relationship of eccentric – if very differently classed – characters. The Returns cheekily acknowledges this connection when book-seller, Trevor, stares out of his shop and sees Waiting’s unforgettable Big and Little gazing straight back at him: Salom’s readers know who Big and Little are, and Trevor would too if he’d bother to read the copy of Waiting that resides on his shop’s shelves. Trevor is, of course, oblivious to the authorial joke he is sitting in. Overweight, about-to-bedivorced, limpy, and prone to gloom, this ‘mordant humourist’ (39) is too busy worrying about his post-marriage future. Then, Elizabeth appears. She is skinny, orthorexic, divorced, and a sufferer of prosopagnosia: she cannot recognise faces. She works-from-home as an editor and is looking for a lodger. Trevor soon moves in, befriends her equally limpy dog, takes over the cooking, and turns her shed into a studio: he wants to ‘fetch back’ his abandoned youth as a ‘wayward’ bachelor artist (59).' (Introduction)
1 Something Trapped and Frantic : Marcella Polain’s ‘Driving into the Sun’ Helen Gildfind , 2019 single work review
— Appears in: Editor's Desk - 2019 2019;

— Review of Driving into the Sun Marcella Polain , 2019 single work novel
1 All of This, Everything Helen Gildfind , 2019 single work short story
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 79 no. 1 2019; (p. 110-116)
1 Remembering the Future Helen Gildfind , 2018 single work review
— Appears in: TEXT : Journal of Writing and Writing Courses , October vol. 22 no. 2 2018;

— Review of Dyschronia Jennifer Mills , 2018 single work novel

'If the literary technique of ‘defamiliarisation’ is the usual means through which writers jolt people into seeing the world anew, how does a dystopian novelist shock us into seeing the environmental extremities of today, when ‘extremes’ are increasingly the norm? Furthermore, how can such a writer hope to contribute something original to our long tradition of dystopian fiction, and its rapidly growing sub-genre of ‘Cli-Fi’[1]? Jennifer Mills has taken on these challenges with her new novel, Dyschronia. This striking title refers to the novel’s structural and thematic preoccupation with temporal disorder, while cleverly alluding to both the novel’s genre and to the feeling of ‘dysphoria’ experienced by its protagonist, Sam (66) – that deep sense of ‘unease’ which provokes, and should be provoked by, dystopian stories.'  (Introduction)

1 5 y separately published work icon The Worry Front Helen Gildfind , Witchcliffe : Margaret River Press , 2018 13833135 2018 selected work short story

'Through a multitude of distinct voices, Gildfind’s startling tales explore the absurd, macabre, surreal – and too-real – whilst wrestling with the irrevocable acts, immutable facts, and relentless uncertainties that lie at the dark heart of every life.' (Publication summary)

1 A Malfunctioning Heart Bared to the Scalpel Helen Gildfind , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: TEXT : Journal of Writing and Writing Courses , April vol. 21 no. 1 2017;
'Anthony Macris’s collection of short stories is grouped into two sections, ‘Inexperience’ and ‘Quiet Achievers’. Together, these sections offer a sophisticated and compassionate analysis of masculinity in a modern, consumer, capitalist world.' (Introduction)
1 Talking Back to a ‘Million Little Violences’ Helen Gildfind , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: TEXT : Journal of Writing and Writing Courses , April vol. 20 no. 1 2016;

— Review of The Lifted Brow no. 29 March 2016 periodical issue
1 The Nothingness That Should Be Something Helen Gildfind , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: TEXT : Journal of Writing and Writing Courses , October vol. 20 no. 2 2016;

— Review of Waiting Philip Salom , 2016 single work novel
1 ‘You Can Not Hide What Is in Your Bones’ Helen Gildfind , 2015 single work review
— Appears in: TEXT : Journal of Writing and Writing Courses , October vol. 19 no. 2 2015;

— Review of Southerly vol. 73 no. 3 2013 periodical issue
1 Quarry Helen Gildfind , 2015 single work novella
— Appears in: Griffith Review , October no. 50 2015; (p. 211-259)

'Luke crosses his arms against the bluster and stares out across the grey. Even on the hottest days in summer, when dozens of people come here to walk their dogs or jog or fish or set up barbeques with their damn kids screaming everywhere, this bench just stands here empty. It seems to wait for him, as if his own name is gouged across its grain rather than Beck's and Ahmed's and Sol's and Renee's. Luke hugs himself and squints through the gritty spray. A rock wall ties one side of the lake to the other, dividing the water in two. A man sits in the middle of the wall, in the middle of the lake, fishing. Luke watches him, then looks over him to the twisted white gums drowned along the far bank. He studies the gums, studies them hard...' (Publication abstract)

1 Truth Without Cruelty Helen Gildfind , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: TEXT : The Journal of the Australian Association of Writing , October vol. 18 no. 2 2014;

— Review of Telling True Stories : Navigating the Challenges of Writing Narrative Non-fiction Matthew Ricketson , 2014 selected work criticism
1 Morning Song Helen Gildfind , 2013 single work short story
— Appears in: Griffith Review , April no. 40 2013; (p. 276-286)
1 The Difficult Business of Writing : The Story of Return to Coolami's Publication Helen Gildfind , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , December vol. 27 no. 2 2013; (p. 157-160)
'In Eleanor Dark's archive, there seems to be an infinite number of royalty statements, contracts, and letters between her, Curtis Brown, and American and British publishers. In her article discussing the ill-fated publishing history of Prelude to Christopher, Drusilla Modjeska does an excellent job of untangling a story from such documents, Prelude. Here, Gildfind discusses Coolami's publication story.' (Publication abstract)
1 The Ferryman Helen Gildfind , 2013 single work short story
— Appears in: Overland , Winter no. 211 2013; (p. 50-54)
1 Eat. Shit. Die. Helen Gildfind , 2012 single work short story
— Appears in: Meanjin , Summer vol. 71 no. 4 2012; (p. 123-132)
1 Maybe the Book Has to Bite You Like a Dog : Southpaw's Displacement Helen Gildfind , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: TEXT : Journal of Writing and Writing Courses , October vol. 16 no. 2 2012;

— Review of Southpaw no. 1 2011-2012 periodical issue
1 Gently, Gently Helen Gildfind , 2011 single work short story
— Appears in: Antipodes , December vol. 25 no. 2 2011; (p. 138-143)
X