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Light Borrowers: UTS Writers Anthology 2018
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 including Christine Afoa, Ruth Armstrong, Sara Borman, Sally Breen, Alex Bulahoff, Shana Chandra, Daniel Comensoli, Olivia Costa, Daniel Date, Mark Gerts, Shoshana Gottlieb, Echo He, Sydney Khoo, ZA Knowles, Sam McAlpine, Helen Meany, David Naylor, Joseph Schwarzkopf, Amy Shapiro, Jack Cameron Stanton, EM Tasker and Tanya Vavilova.
304 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 6, 2023
lots of pretty sentences that made me think :) good short stories but the poems were my favourites🤌
November 28, 2018
An eclectic collection of short fiction, poems and screenplays from creative writing students at UTS. While a few were hard-going or pretentious (always a risk with university anthologies), most were very well written and had something interesting to say.
The best ones, or so it seemed to me, were grouped towards the front of the book. Here are some reflections on a few of my favourites.
The Power of Snails by Catherine Mah
Only a day or so before reading this story a friend and I discussed how it was possible to be an animal lover and also eat meat. It is not possible, of course, but an unsolvable contradiction. One either ignores it or accepts it so the two things can run concurrently: I like cows and pigs and I like eating them once they’ve been processed into meat.
Such compartmentalisation is not possible for everyone. When it isn’t, that person must eventually go through the same experience Catherine Mah’s protagonist does in this story. It’s a simple and elegant tale with language that evokes its setting effectively and uses it to symbolic purpose.
Ten/nineteen by Shoshone Gottlieb
This poem is a beautiful and heart-breaking rumination on what we lose when a loved one dies, as well as the cumulative effect of grief and how it strips away innocence.
Shooting on Jones Street by David Naylor
On a stinking hot day in 1969, Danno, a young newspaper reporter, gets jack of his cantankerous editor Boyle criticising him and decides to throw his typewriter through the nearest (closed) window. Not bothering to wait around to get fired, he heads home and decides the right thing to do is grab his air rifle and exact some poetic justice on his “pain in the arse” editor. That’s the plot, at any rate; what the story’s really about are the things people conceal from the world – symbolised in ostensibly crude but actually quite appropriate descriptions of underwear – and why we should not be hasty to judge others.
It’s an enjoyable story with the sort of knockabout characters that are almost absent from Australian fiction these days, but it could have used another 3000 words to better flesh out the supporting cast and their interactions with Danno, particularly Boyle. This would have delivered the theme in a more natural fashion, rather than the author having to spell it out with some unlikely dialogue.
I’m (Not) Lovin’ It by Sydney Khoo
This obviously autobiographical story about being asexual should be self-important and pretentious, yet Khoo’s honest, down-to-earth and humorous approach makes its themes remarkably universal. And like the underpants in David Naylor’s story above, the McDonald’s references should be ridiculous but work well in the story’s context. An unexpected highlight (and far superior to Khoo’s other story in this anthology, which tries too hard to be literary).
Mess by Sara Borman
A self-referencing poem inspired by a drunken text message? This should be a total disaster, but Borman’s imagery, structure and insight into human nature combine to create something with startling impact.
Behind the Glass by Sam McAlpine
The glass in this story serves as a metaphor for the emotional partitions springing up in a woman’s life – particularly between her and her daughter. An elegant yet emotionally raw piece.
Stonemen by Daniel Date
While the final twist feels a little far-fetched, this story uses convict-era Australia and bushranging legends to very entertaining effect.
Writers In My Family by Echo Qin He
A writer writing about becoming a writer sounds like the most self-indulgent and least entertaining subject for a short story imaginable, yet Echo Qin He blends it with her family history and the immigrant experience to create something compelling and satisfying.
Every Story is Made Up of Other Stories by EM Tasker
One for the word nerds, this is literally the history of words and how they came together to create writing. I’ve never read anything like this – it’s a true original and its wordplay is mind-bending.
The X. by Shana Chandra
An Indian-Australian woman returns to her cultural homeland to follow her ex-boyfriend for whom she still holds a flame – and finds something else instead. Few things in fiction are more beautiful than a solid story arc with a satisfying conclusion, and this one stretches across the pages like a rainbow.
The best ones, or so it seemed to me, were grouped towards the front of the book. Here are some reflections on a few of my favourites.
The Power of Snails by Catherine Mah
Only a day or so before reading this story a friend and I discussed how it was possible to be an animal lover and also eat meat. It is not possible, of course, but an unsolvable contradiction. One either ignores it or accepts it so the two things can run concurrently: I like cows and pigs and I like eating them once they’ve been processed into meat.
Such compartmentalisation is not possible for everyone. When it isn’t, that person must eventually go through the same experience Catherine Mah’s protagonist does in this story. It’s a simple and elegant tale with language that evokes its setting effectively and uses it to symbolic purpose.
Ten/nineteen by Shoshone Gottlieb
This poem is a beautiful and heart-breaking rumination on what we lose when a loved one dies, as well as the cumulative effect of grief and how it strips away innocence.
Shooting on Jones Street by David Naylor
On a stinking hot day in 1969, Danno, a young newspaper reporter, gets jack of his cantankerous editor Boyle criticising him and decides to throw his typewriter through the nearest (closed) window. Not bothering to wait around to get fired, he heads home and decides the right thing to do is grab his air rifle and exact some poetic justice on his “pain in the arse” editor. That’s the plot, at any rate; what the story’s really about are the things people conceal from the world – symbolised in ostensibly crude but actually quite appropriate descriptions of underwear – and why we should not be hasty to judge others.
It’s an enjoyable story with the sort of knockabout characters that are almost absent from Australian fiction these days, but it could have used another 3000 words to better flesh out the supporting cast and their interactions with Danno, particularly Boyle. This would have delivered the theme in a more natural fashion, rather than the author having to spell it out with some unlikely dialogue.
I’m (Not) Lovin’ It by Sydney Khoo
This obviously autobiographical story about being asexual should be self-important and pretentious, yet Khoo’s honest, down-to-earth and humorous approach makes its themes remarkably universal. And like the underpants in David Naylor’s story above, the McDonald’s references should be ridiculous but work well in the story’s context. An unexpected highlight (and far superior to Khoo’s other story in this anthology, which tries too hard to be literary).
Mess by Sara Borman
A self-referencing poem inspired by a drunken text message? This should be a total disaster, but Borman’s imagery, structure and insight into human nature combine to create something with startling impact.
Behind the Glass by Sam McAlpine
The glass in this story serves as a metaphor for the emotional partitions springing up in a woman’s life – particularly between her and her daughter. An elegant yet emotionally raw piece.
Stonemen by Daniel Date
While the final twist feels a little far-fetched, this story uses convict-era Australia and bushranging legends to very entertaining effect.
Writers In My Family by Echo Qin He
A writer writing about becoming a writer sounds like the most self-indulgent and least entertaining subject for a short story imaginable, yet Echo Qin He blends it with her family history and the immigrant experience to create something compelling and satisfying.
Every Story is Made Up of Other Stories by EM Tasker
One for the word nerds, this is literally the history of words and how they came together to create writing. I’ve never read anything like this – it’s a true original and its wordplay is mind-bending.
The X. by Shana Chandra
An Indian-Australian woman returns to her cultural homeland to follow her ex-boyfriend for whom she still holds a flame – and finds something else instead. Few things in fiction are more beautiful than a solid story arc with a satisfying conclusion, and this one stretches across the pages like a rainbow.
February 8, 2022
It is always interesting to read a collection of short stories by different authors especially when they are budding university students. I found many of the pieces in this fascinating but not brilliant, as with the previous edition there were several that I did not enjoy at all (more than the last edition), despite this, there were many pieces that had a lot of potential and a few that could be five-star works, which is what earnt this novel its placement as a three-star book.
Reading short pieces like this by students and starting out authors is incredibly inspirational (something I believe I said in the review of the last edition), however, a reader must be prepared for what they are getting into. Some pieces will not interest you at all and may stop you from completing the book, some may not be your taste, and maybe if you are certainly not fond of short fiction don't give it a go. But if you do enjoy short stories, or have never really tried it, I would recommend giving this book a try, I don't regret it.
Reading short pieces like this by students and starting out authors is incredibly inspirational (something I believe I said in the review of the last edition), however, a reader must be prepared for what they are getting into. Some pieces will not interest you at all and may stop you from completing the book, some may not be your taste, and maybe if you are certainly not fond of short fiction don't give it a go. But if you do enjoy short stories, or have never really tried it, I would recommend giving this book a try, I don't regret it.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews