AustLit

'Ma chere Clare, 
'Cici est une lettre au moi qui n;a jamais ete.  This is a letter to the me that never was. Ceti est une lettre au moi que se tenait sous un riverbere a Paris en 1987. This is a letter to the me who stood under a street lamp in Paris in 1987. ' (Introduction)

'Hi darling,

'Hope you're well. You look beautiful.

I'm writing because I want to apologise.' (Introduction)

'I never thought I'd be homophobic, but I have to say if there is one thing that can do it, it's you girlfriend breaking up with you.'  (Introduction)

'This is not so much a letter to a fork in a road as a letter from the fork in one. actually, it's a letter to this guy I walk past most days at around 2 quarter to three in the afternoon, at the spot where Fairfield Road branches into several distinct bands of footpath and bikepath, and other parallel roads altogether. It's always looked to me like a magical splitting point into other ways and places of being. ' (Introduction)

'A fork in the road is defined as 'a deciding moment in life when a major choice of options is required'. Which moment in my life is my fork, when I have a whole cutlery set of defining moments to choose from? But not just any cutlery.. vintage old-fashioned stuff that if you put in the dishwasher will instantly tarnish; it is meant to be hand washed, savoured. So that is what I want to do today, savour the defining moments in my life that have brought me to my fork. Let's start on the outside of my life's table and work our way in. '  (Introduction)

'The choice between the worlds of the unconscious and conscious? Flip a coin: heads for unconscious, tails for conscious. The universe knows. I've been told you only need to flip once. If you flip three times you are testing the universe and then it doesn't work.' (Introduction)
 

'I have a short preamble, and then I will get to the letter. I have a saying that I like to use a lot. It goes like this: the things that make someone wonderful are the exact same qualities that make them shitty. I usually use it when my friends are recently out of relationships, and are outlining the various reasons why they left their partner. At the beginning of the relationship, my friend might say 'Oh my god, she's so stable and organised and meticulous and together and I love that about her, she really grounds me, you know? She's like a rock, something I can tie myself to and feel like I'm not spinning around chaotically.' And at the end of the relationship, they usually say something like 'Oh my god, she's so stable and organised and meticulous and together, and I hate that, you know? She's like a rock, weighing me down.' It's the qualities in people that make them fantastic at dinner parties — lively and chatty and crazy and boisterous — that cause them to be annoying on long drives.'  (Introduction)

'Dear Mum, 
'I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I neglected the tomato plant you gave me. I really did try to keep that little guy alive. Watching it slowly wither into a lifeless, twisted husk made me wonder if I would ever become a good parent. I don't know how you did it. '  (Introduction)

'To my mother, Else Kuminack, 
'Today is your birthday. It's the only birthday I ever remember. I'm almost as old now as you when you died. How vivid the memory of your life. How vivid the memory of your death. You've always remained alive in my heart and I have always found it difficult to live without you. Today you would've been 109 years of age. '  (Introduction)

'Dear Tamsin, 
'We've just had a conversation in the kitchen — and I called you 'Astrid', because the combination of current breastfeeding status and an old baking top with tired elastic had me thinking of that wenchly Bornhoffen ad from the early '80s — which is a compliment, believe me, even if you're not immediately recognising it as one, and I'd ask you to stop formulating that sentence you're composing in your head, the one that begins: can't believe you started with my breasts.'  (Introduction)

Wow. Does it feel weird to be getting a letter from me? It feels weird to write one. Back in the day I wrote letters to a lot of my other friends from camp, but you and I never did — I wonder why? Maybe the strength of our connection called for something more immediate, present and live. Or maybe a penpal relationship with someone in your own suburb seemed unimaginably stupid, even to kids. At any rate, I can still remember that first phone call. It was after school and I was halfway through my regular ABC afternoon marathon of The Ferals:, Vidiot, Degrassi Junior High and Press Gang. Linda and Spike were knee deep in am another, angsty, sexual tete-a-tete when Mum told me you were on the phone I couldn't believe it. This was even cooler than getting a call from Julia Sawalha or Dexter Fletcher — this was Holly from Christian Youth Camp...'   (Introduction)

'Dear Vicki, 
'How are you, gorgeous girl? I know you'll see the funny side of me reading this birthday letter to you from the old Northcote picture theatre. Believe it or not, it's now called The Regal Ballroom. Nothing regal about High Street, Northcote, in the 1970s, when the Croxton Park Hotel spilled more blood than the local abattoir. They weren't serving Tasmanian oysters with Thai vinaigrette at the Croxton when you were driving past with young Lizzie en route to Ojays down in Clifton Hill in the early '80s. Handcrafted little bags and hippy-like, arty dresses swept up in the aroma of incense: Ojays was nothing like Northland, and you were nothing like the Croxton Crew.' (Introduction)

'Dear Spirit of Tasmania

'Heroine of the most treacherous body of water on Mother Earth, you have changed my life.'  (Introduction)