Cirrus@Austlit

Helff notes the growing trend in children's fiction and autobiographical writing 'of stories about young people who are deprived of their homes and ambivalently caught between cultures' (67) She analyzes two short stories from the collection Dark Dreams: Australian Refugee Stories by Young Writers aged 11-20 Years and argues that Dark Dreams 'invites readers to follow the juvenile writers to re-think and challenge the construction of Australian national identity, belonging and history' (67). She points out that 'storytellers, writers and readers participate in and contribute in a life-shaping act that includes the sharing of trauma and guilt' in ways that make it possible for new reflections upon the self in Australian history' (72). As such, she claims the project 'Australia IS refugees! and the short stories collected in Dark Dreams contribute to a critical egagement with Australian national identity, questions of belonging and Australian history making' (72).