AustLit

'Mum bought the empty boxes from the Reject Shop after Dad's funeral, and left us to our own devices. It was one of her better ideas; adopting a crazed Jack Russell from the pound that same week was not. The dog ran through the legs of distant cousins and great aunts at the wake, humping pillows and snarling at plump, gooey-faced toddlers. We didn't mind - she was trying to salvage the normality in our lives at a time when the familiar had caved in around us.'  (Publication abstract)

'The year of no rain we bathed in buckets while the tub rusted over. Your rough hands clasped our blistered shoulders, scrubbing until we glistened like hams. My feet rooted to the sagging verandah, careful not to waste a drop, riches rolling down my knobbly spine...'  (Publication abstract)