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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'For a long time Western Sydney has been the political flash-point of the nation, but it has been absent from Australian literature. Luke Carman’s first book of fiction is about to change all that: a collection of monologues and stories which tells it how it is on Australia’s cultural frontier. His young, self-conscious but determined hero navigates his way through the complications of his divorced family, and an often perilous social world, with its Fobs, Lebbbos, Greek, Serbs, Grubby Boys and scumbag Aussies, friends and enemies. He loves Whitman and Kerouac, Leonard Cohen and Henry Rollins, is awkward with girls, and has an invisible friend called Tom. His neighbour Wessam tells him he should write a book called How to Be Gay – and now he has. Carman’s style is packed with thought and energy: it captures the voices of the street, and conveys fear and anger, beauty and affection, with a restless intensity.' (Publisher's blurb)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also large print.
Works about this Work
-
Hopefully the Future Is Dark
2019
single work
essay
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , April 2019;'Some people say ‘West’ like it is something wrong, like ice-cream that fell in a gutter. I think West is like my brother’s music, too much bass so you end up dancing like your body parts don’t fit together and laughing all at the same time. That’s what West is: shiny cars and loud things, people coming, people going – movement. Those who don’t know any better, they come into the neighbourhood and lock their windows and drive on through, never stopping before they get somewhere else.
'These are the first few lines of my second book The Incredible Here and Now. I can’t say that I like them very much. I don’t think they work. The rhythm is great, some of the images too, but really what blows the whole thing is that it’s too restrictive, too reductive an image of what western Sydney is to be that useful.' (Introduction)
-
Revision, Community and Performance : The Role of a Literary Network in the Development of Michael Mohammed Ahmad’s The Tribe and Luke Carman’s An Elegant Young Man
2016
single work
criticism
— Appears in: New Writing , vol. 13 no. 2 2016; (p. 297-307) 'This paper contributes to recent scholarship on writers’ networks by assessing how two contemporary Australian writers, Michael Mohammed Ahmad and Luke Carman, used discussion and performance of drafts to develop their first books. Their revisions enabled them to shape not just their fiction, but to formulate a narrative about western Sydney which they could communicate to a national audience. In the following, I describe an interview I conducted with them about their revision practices and their suggestions for each other’s manuscripts. In addition, I discuss the writing processes involved in the completion of The Tribe (2014) and An Elegant Young Man (2013), which emerged from a collaborative environment or ‘community of practice’, and won literary awards.' (Publication abstract) -
The New Australian Literary Frontier : Writing Western Sydney
2015
single work
column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 17 February 2015; -
Selected Shorts
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , September no. 364 2014; (p. 52-50)
— Review of Heat and Light 2014 selected work short story ; Captives 2014 selected work short story ; Arms Race : And Other Stories 2014 selected work short story ; Las Vegas for Vegans 2012 selected work short story ; An Elegant Young Man 2013 selected work short story ; Tarcutta Wake 2012 selected work short story -
The Year’s Work in Fiction
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: Westerly , June vol. 59 no. 1 2014; (p. 124-143)
— Review of Elephants in the Bush and Other Yamatji Yarns 2013 single work prose life story ; An Elegant Young Man 2013 selected work short story ; The Incredible Here and Now 2013 single work novel ; Elemental 2013 single work novel ; Now Showing 2013 selected work short story ; The Heaven I Swallowed 2013 single work novel ; Stella's Sea 2013 single work novel ; The Young Desire It : A Novel 1937 single work novel ; Inland 1988 single work novel ; White Light 2013 selected work short story ; Knitting and Other Stories : Margaret River Short Story Competition 2013 2013 selected work short story ; The Best Australian Stories 2013 2013 selected work short story ; The Rosie Project 2013 single work novel ; Lives of the Dead 2013 selected work short story ; The Double (And Other Stories) 2013 selected work short story ; Harmless 2013 single work novel ; Letters to the End of Love 2013 single work novel ; Eyrie 2013 single work novel ; The Swan Book 2013 single work novel
-
In Short : Fiction
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 7-8 December 2013; (p. 32) The Age , 7 December 2013; (p. 28)
— Review of Passion Play : The Oberammergau Tales 2013 single work novel ; An Elegant Young Man 2013 selected work short story -
Review : Fiction
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 7 December 2013; (p. 24)
— Review of An Elegant Young Man 2013 selected work short story ; TC : Tom Carroll 2013 single work biography ; Selective Memory : A Life in Film 2013 single work autobiography ; Passion Play : The Oberammergau Tales 2013 single work novel -
Life Flares in Suburban Void
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 14-15 December 2013; (p. 23)
— Review of An Elegant Young Man 2013 selected work short story -
Finally, Poetic Justice for Our Unrivalled Secret Streets
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 23 February 2014; (p. 13) The Sunday Age , 23 February 2014; (p. 13)
— Review of An Elegant Young Man 2013 selected work short story -
[Review] An Elegant Young Man
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , February no. 358 2014; (p. 54)
— Review of An Elegant Young Man 2013 selected work short story -
The New Australian Literary Frontier : Writing Western Sydney
2015
single work
column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 17 February 2015; -
Revision, Community and Performance : The Role of a Literary Network in the Development of Michael Mohammed Ahmad’s The Tribe and Luke Carman’s An Elegant Young Man
2016
single work
criticism
— Appears in: New Writing , vol. 13 no. 2 2016; (p. 297-307) 'This paper contributes to recent scholarship on writers’ networks by assessing how two contemporary Australian writers, Michael Mohammed Ahmad and Luke Carman, used discussion and performance of drafts to develop their first books. Their revisions enabled them to shape not just their fiction, but to formulate a narrative about western Sydney which they could communicate to a national audience. In the following, I describe an interview I conducted with them about their revision practices and their suggestions for each other’s manuscripts. In addition, I discuss the writing processes involved in the completion of The Tribe (2014) and An Elegant Young Man (2013), which emerged from a collaborative environment or ‘community of practice’, and won literary awards.' (Publication abstract) -
Hopefully the Future Is Dark
2019
single work
essay
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , April 2019;'Some people say ‘West’ like it is something wrong, like ice-cream that fell in a gutter. I think West is like my brother’s music, too much bass so you end up dancing like your body parts don’t fit together and laughing all at the same time. That’s what West is: shiny cars and loud things, people coming, people going – movement. Those who don’t know any better, they come into the neighbourhood and lock their windows and drive on through, never stopping before they get somewhere else.
'These are the first few lines of my second book The Incredible Here and Now. I can’t say that I like them very much. I don’t think they work. The rhythm is great, some of the images too, but really what blows the whole thing is that it’s too restrictive, too reductive an image of what western Sydney is to be that useful.' (Introduction)
Awards
- 2015 winner New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Glenda Adams Award for New Writing
- 2014 shortlisted Queensland Literary Awards — Australian Short Story Collection - Steele Rudd Award
- 2014 shortlisted Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction
- 2014 shortlisted ASAL Awards — ALS Gold Medal
- 2014 joint winner The Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelist of the Year
