New guest blog post at Sky Sirens’ Siren Stories. “Selfie and Psyche” is an exploration of mirrors, self-reflection, aerials and body. While Sydney is currently in lockdown, I’m re-reading these words as though written by someone else. It’s a strange and alienating experience. Where women take photos of themselves – though this generally applies to…
Tag: amwriting
The Deborah Cass Prize for Writing 2020: “Birch”
In October 2020 I wrote about being short-listed for The Deborah Cass Prize for Writing. This moment floored me. It signified validation for a manuscript I have nurtured, abhorred and distrusted in various measure over the course of years, largely because of its underlying personal nature. A part of me believes that every writer’s first…
Heroines Women’s Writing Prize 2020: “Grey Wolf”
On 15 November 2020 I read aloud in public for the first time. Like many others, I am horrified at the prospect of public speaking, and yet, in the same vein of other events during the past two years, it was a moment of needing to conquer a fear. I read an excerpt from Grey…
NaNoWriMo 2020
A note: 20 October 2020. I have just now created a copy of a document I last opened in 2018. In 11 days, I will again try to complete NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). The goal is simple enough: 50,000 words in 30 days – simple enough when broken down into elements of words, characters,…
Shortlisted: Heroines and Deborah Cass
Surprising no one who knows me, I cried on September 4 and October 12. On September 4, I found out I was short-listed for the Heroines Women’s Writing Prize. This was news beyond expectation for the first short story I’ve written this year. It’s a story that rends apart the classic Russian fable ‘Ivan and…
Write Me In Your Style | Rye Blood
The very talented Emma Darcy surprised me with a ‘Write Me In Your Style’ rendition of my story ‘Birch’. It was both an honour and a thrill to read it – not only had someone engaged with the work at such a level that they were inclined to explore it in their own form, but…
Update: Saint Petersburg, Self, S*x
It has been too long but in this time, I have been again to Saint Petersburg. I hoped, rather optimistically, to edit Birch in-situ, but instead spent time finding new ways of experiencing the city that informed most of my writing. I remember a moment of panic on the Sadovaya canal, the first morning I…
New writing: Daphne
New story online now thanks to Baby Teeth, a brilliant new arts journal based in Wollongong, NSW. For me, this was a far more experimental piece in both structure and content, inspired by true, horrific events. Please note the content warning for sexual assault and violence. I’m grateful and honoured Daphne saw the light. Read it HERE….
Lindqvist and King: Horror and catharsis
Dear Mr. Ajvide Lindqvist, I find myself wanting to see your arm, to verify if there is an ‘X’ scarring it, carved by a monster of a policeman. Seeing this scar, I think, might convince me of the existence of horrors beyond this world. In this year of firsts, I was lucky enough recently…
Reading and Taxidermy and Meanjin
This year. This maddening, sometimes wonderful year. I am so thrilled to share a short piece I’ve written for Meanjin – an incredible Australian literary magazine I’ve read and followed since uni. This is a happy tick on the writerly bucket list. I’ve dreamed of my writing being published by Meanjin, and this blog post as…
Dasha Maiorova 