ROOTS: Postgrad Publication Prize Anthology Launched…

ROOTS – LAUNCH AT DOCKLANDS 27 April 2023

The editors – Maria Imran, Kristal Leighton, Rita O’Donoghue, Claire Russell– and the graphic designer – Paul Young – were delighted to celebrate this wonderful production, the Roots anthology. The launch included live attendance at the Library at Docklands, and zoom participation both locally and globally. 

Thanks to Bendigo Bank Community Bank Deakin, this was an opportunity for the team to actually get together from Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne (although unfortunately there was a last-minute move to zoom for one editor).  They were delighted to meet their authors and the Deakin staff who had guided them, Kris Moruzi and Colin Trechter. 

Roots is a contemporary anthology of four longer form stories delving into dystopic, metaphoric, personal and magical perspectives on the ecology of relationships. Starting and ending with conceptions of roots testing the relationship between the earth and humanity, the journey of this anthology also interrogates the rhizomatic outcomes of personal relationships.

The writers work in immersively diverse styles and genres. Molly McShane’s Coral Bones considers a dystopian near future from unexpected perspectives; Spectre of the Homestead by Jess Rose takes an experimental poetic form to explore relationships between a couple and their house/home. Within Brown isn’t my Colour, Sharmila Jayasinghe interwines two strands to explore cultural ecologies, while Jodie Brownlee’s Tanglefoot uses a fable form to draw out the importance of nourished roots.

This anthology will enrich the reader as both a continuous story from differing voices, and as an opportunity to dip into individual ecological worldviews.

Roots is now available from Amazon – check out ebook (and hard copy shortly) and read a sample!