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Erin Stewart Erin Stewart i(10763293 works by)
Gender: Female
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Works By

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1 Antipsychotic Erin Stewart , 2021 single work essay
— Appears in: Island , no. 163 2021; (p. 68-73)
1 Masochism and Memoir Erin Stewart , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: Overland [Online] , February 2017;
'I’ve been at a few storytelling events in which adults bring in the diaries they kept as a teenager and laugh at the things they wrote. I laughed along, but with some sense of disquiet. There are limits to looking back on your direct experience – as you lived it then – with a jovial posture. Reading through my own old experiences would not be funny. My old diaries talk of a deep sense of misery and loneliness. Reading them aloud would be enacting a cruelty to a self that no longer exists but who I feel protective of, and sad for. I also don’t think it would be an ethical representation of a woman, nor of a person who lives with mental illness, nor of myself – even though what’s in the diaries are (more or less) a true account of what I’ve gone through.' (Introduction)
1 Fear of the Flying Erin Stewart , 2016 single work autobiography
— Appears in: Meanjin , Summer vol. 75 no. 4 2016; (p. 175-180) Meanjin Online 2016;
' I didn't understand why I was screaming. The air outside was clear, purified by the trees of outer Melbourne. The sunlight was pale and softly warm and the only formation I saw when I looked in the sky was pastel eucalyptus leaves. It was a promising day of early spring, relief for cold knuckles. What's more, I was on borrowed time, it was the school Curriculum Day, a welcome event as year six was growing stale.' (Publication abstract)
1 Signs Vs. Symptoms : An Insight into Bipolar Erin Stewart , 2014 single work essay
— Appears in: Voiceworks , Autumn no. 96 2014; (p. 7-10)

'Over the course of last year I immersed myself in a particular sub-genre of book: the mental illness memoir. There are some stylistically awesome and accessible titles on the topic. William Styron's Darkness Visible, for instance, or anything by Marya Hornbacher. John Marsden's books, many of which deal with themes of mental illness, were popular at school - even among the more well-adjusted. Still though, the memoirs feel like they were written for me; I read them at a point where I wanted stories I could relate to, something that gave me insight into my own madness. It was at this time in my life I was misdiagnosed with depression, and then later (correctly) with bipolar disorder.' (Publication abstract)

 

1 The Capital of Planning Erin Stewart , 2012 single work prose
— Appears in: Voiceworks , Winter no. 89 2012; (p. 57-59)
'It was at the end of year twelve that I first announced my intention to live in Canberra for the duration of my degree. I was interested in politics and philosophy (though, like most university students, ended up changing my major altogether), and Canberra had all the relevant institutions to make moving seem like a good idea. I've never stopped having to explain this decision. Why would you move to Canberra?, people constantly asked. There were a few stock responses to my move among my friends, family and vague acquaintances. It's boring there was the first; It's cold there and I always get lost there (and not in a whimsical way) soon followed. Surely, after having lived in Canberra for four years, I would have something more interesting and less stereotypical to say about it than stock material that everyone says. But, in a way, the critics are right: Canberra is cold and difficult to navigate and departs greatly from the idea of a bustling metropolis...' (Publication abstract)
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