Well, 2025 is off to a busy start. With proofreading now complete on Salvage, I should soon be receiving the first few advance copies and sending some more out into the world – always exciting when people you admire read and engage with your work, and it doesn’t seem to get any less daunting. I’m so looking forward to the release (mid year) and to sharing this book with the world. Keep an eye out here and on my socials for launch plans.
In the meantime, I’ve just begun my fellowship at the State Library of SA. Yesterday we had an induction and tour of the library – one of those moments when I wanted to step back in time and let my kid self know they would get to do this (yes, I was born to read). It was really cool to meet and chat with the other Fellows, Piri Eddy, Helen Edwards, Kate Marie Lewis and Alexis West. We were so grateful to our library hosts for the behind-the-scenes tour, insights and tantalising stories. The wonderful team at Writers SA also took excellent care of us and gave us the warmest welcome. Here are a few sneaky pics from the magnificent Mortlock (my favourite) and the absolutely 100% haunted library basement where they keep everything that’s ever been published in the state – incredible to see.
This fellowship is very well timed, as I am in the research phase of a new project. Ready to follow my curiosity into the aisles and stumble into another years-long process of constructing a narrative out of what I find. I did a bit of preliminary work on it last year, so the form and ideas are hovering around, but it’s still very new and gestational. I am looking forward to diving in to some research, planning and importantly, play. I feel so fortunate to have the support of the Fellowship at this vital creative stage.
I’m still on my freelance game too, of course. Most recently, I reviewed the wonderful Radical Textiles exhibition at AGSA for The Saturday Paper: Social Fabric (available by signup link or subscription, but contact me if you’d like a sneaky pdf). I had a lot of fun writing this and enjoyed having an excuse to visit the show multiple times. I wanted to reflect on what textiles teach us about process, labour and collective practice, and was very struck by the work that went into each piece. Taken together, Radical Textiles has a powerful emotional throughline that I found quite sustaining. It is well worth seeing if you’re in the city – I would recommend going more than once as there’s a lot to take in. A few pics from the exhibition below, details in alt text:
With a book on the way, I have a few festivals lined up this year. The first is very soon, with an event at Adelaide Writers Week: Writing Home. I’ll be sharing some thoughts about writing with nature, decolonising fiction, and the complex relationships between storytelling, place and justice. Come along!
Amidst the usual mayhem of festival season, with its visitors, gigs and adventures, I’m looking forward to the development showing of the middle story from Slingsby Theatre Company’s triptych, A Concise Compendium of Wonder – The Giant’s Garden (written by Ursula Dubosarsky, based on Wilde’s The Selfish Giant). It will be the first time the modular portable set will be built (inside the hall), so I’m really excited to see how it all comes together. In October, schools will be able to experience a work-in-progress season of The Childhood of the World (based on my story, which is loosely based on Hansel and Gretel). That will be held at Waterside, so I’ll be right at home! The whole triptych will be staged as part of Adelaide Festival in 2026, before touring far and wide.
Finally, here’s a lovely feature from the good folks at ANAT, who asked me a few questions about my practice, interdisciplinary approaches and inspirations, and my experiences with some of their many fantastic programs. It gave me a chance to share some thoughts about Salvage, the changing role of dystopia, writing against capitalism, and imagining a shared future. Thanks for having me, ANAT, and thanks for all the vital work you do in bringing artists and scientists together.