AustLit

'It was coming to the end of my time in America. PhD applications still ongoing, I didn't know where I was going but the movers were booked, the cars and furniture in the process of being sold. It was back to that space of deciding what is necessary and what is easy to replace. I had done a lot, seen a lot, been twenty-something across twenty-something states, tried out their names in my mouth. I liked the South, the long vowels and how the rusting history on every street hung low, like a flag of a pole.' (Introduction)

'In her debut collection, award-winning talent Caitlin Maling explores coming of age in contemporary Australia. Writing from Perth, Houston and Cambridge, Maling’s early years to adulthood are told through the lens of the Australian landscape. For young settler Australians this is a place that both defines and undermines identity. A place that claims but can’t be claimed in return. Restlessly questioning and slipping between promise and possibility, Maling’s Australia is richly evoked in narratives of raw power and feeling.' (Publication summary)