AustLit

'Receiving, reading and reviewing this book is a particular pleasure for Southerly, which published three sections of it as the manuscript was being developed. David Brooks and I independently selected Moreno Giovanonni’s work for respective issues we were editing and were in complete agreement that Giovanonni’s essays and fiction presented a truly original and compelling new voice in Australian literature. So I was unsurprised but thrilled to see that Black Inc had published The Fireflies of Autumn. Nor was I surprised that the book was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Fiction 2019 and the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction 2018 and listed by Helen Garner as one of her favourite books in 2018. I was more prepared than others for the full volume. And yet, I was not. It is one of the most affecting books I have ever read.' (Introduction)