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The Best Australian Stories
The Best Australian Stories 2017
In The Best Australian Stories, acclaimed writer Maxine Beneba Clarke brings together our country’s leading literary talents. Herself an award-winning short-story writer, Beneba Clarke selects exceptional stories that resonate with experience and truth, and celebrate the art of storytelling.
Contributors include Dominic Amerena, Madeline Bailey, Tony Birch, Verity Borthwick, Raelee Chapman, Elizabeth Tien An Flux, Cassie Hamer, John Kinsella, Julie Koh, Melissa Lucashenko, Myfanwy McDonald, Jennifer Mills, Joshua Mostafa, Ryan O'Neill, David Oberg, Allee Richards, Mirandi Riwoe, Josephine Rowe, Joe Rubbo, Beejay Silcox and Ellen van Neerven.
Contributors include Dominic Amerena, Madeline Bailey, Tony Birch, Verity Borthwick, Raelee Chapman, Elizabeth Tien An Flux, Cassie Hamer, John Kinsella, Julie Koh, Melissa Lucashenko, Myfanwy McDonald, Jennifer Mills, Joshua Mostafa, Ryan O'Neill, David Oberg, Allee Richards, Mirandi Riwoe, Josephine Rowe, Joe Rubbo, Beejay Silcox and Ellen van Neerven.
192 pages, Paperback
First published November 6, 2017
15 people are currently reading
142 people want to read
About the author
Maxine Beneba Clarke
27 books395 followersMaxine Beneba Clarke is an Australian writer and slam poetry champion of Afro-Caribbean descent. She is the author of the poetry collections Gil Scott Heron is on Parole (Picaro Press, 2009) and Nothing Here Needs Fixing (Picaro Press, 2013), the title poem of which won the 2013 Ada Cambridge Poetry Prize.
Her debut short story collection, Foreign Soil, won the 2013 Victorian Premier's Award for an Unpublished Manuscript and will be published by Hachette Australia in early 2014.
As a spoken word performer, Maxine's work has been delivered on stages and airways, and in festivals across the country, including at the Melbourne Writers Festival (2008, 2010, 2013), Melbourne International Arts Festival (2012), the Arts Centre (2009) and the Melbourne Jazz Fringe Festival (2013).
Maxine’s short fiction, essays and poetry have been published in numerous publications, including Overland, the Age, Big Issue, Cordite Poetry Review, Harvest, Voiceworks, Going Down Swinging, Mascara, Meanjin, Unusual Work and Peril.
She has been poetry editor of the academic journal Social Alternatives (2012), and spoken word editor for Overland literary journal (2011-12).
Maxine has conducted poetry classes and workshops for many organisations, including RMIT, The Victorian Association for the Teaching of English (VATE), Writers Victoria, Kensington Neighbourhood House and the Society of Women Writers (Vic).
Her debut short story collection, Foreign Soil, won the 2013 Victorian Premier's Award for an Unpublished Manuscript and will be published by Hachette Australia in early 2014.
As a spoken word performer, Maxine's work has been delivered on stages and airways, and in festivals across the country, including at the Melbourne Writers Festival (2008, 2010, 2013), Melbourne International Arts Festival (2012), the Arts Centre (2009) and the Melbourne Jazz Fringe Festival (2013).
Maxine’s short fiction, essays and poetry have been published in numerous publications, including Overland, the Age, Big Issue, Cordite Poetry Review, Harvest, Voiceworks, Going Down Swinging, Mascara, Meanjin, Unusual Work and Peril.
She has been poetry editor of the academic journal Social Alternatives (2012), and spoken word editor for Overland literary journal (2011-12).
Maxine has conducted poetry classes and workshops for many organisations, including RMIT, The Victorian Association for the Teaching of English (VATE), Writers Victoria, Kensington Neighbourhood House and the Society of Women Writers (Vic).
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 11, 2018
The recently released The Best Australian Stories 17 (Black Inc. 2017), edited and introduced by Maxine Beneba Clarke, is a compilation of 21 short stories by some of Australia’s best short fiction writers. Featuring work by Ryan O'Neill, Ellen van Neerven and Julie Koh, the stories incorporate fictional truths, magic realism, history and emotion, each with a kernel of poignancy at its heart, each telling a big story in the short form, some with an unexpected twist, and some that feel like they are part of a longer work even though they stand independently. This is a perfect collection to dip in and out of at will, and provides a snapshot of what Aussie writers are currently creating. Some of my favourites from this book include: Tony Birch’s Sissy and Melissa Lucas Melissa Lucashenko’s Dreamers, both moving stories featuring indigenous characters; Mirandi Stanton Mirandi Riwoe’s Growth, a grisly tale of loss and grief; the chilling Barren Ground by Verity Borthwick; the childish wonder of Miracles by Jennifer Mills; Help Me Harden My Heart, a vivid account of extremism, by Dominic Amerena; the awful inevitability of Josephine Rowe’s Glisk; the terrible hidden secret in The Telephone by John Kinsella; Raelee Chapman’s story of emotional and physical fragility and risk in A United Front; and fear of the unknown in By Proxy, by Cassie Hamer. This is a delightful collection with stories of various genres and styles that will resonate with many readers.
February 3, 2018
New resolution to read this compilation every year: the best of the stories are either achingly or slammingly good; and the proportion that speak to me is high enough to return. Scattered thoughts because that's all I've got energy for today:
* More than a third of the stories take a child's perspective to reflect on trauma, or just a slice of Australian culture. It's a really effective technique, but by the end of the compilation I was a bit over it. It's actually quite difficult to capture a child's voice well, which is probably why it is more often attempted in short than long form, and most of the time the point is to allow the author inside knowledge not available to the protagonist, due to an absence of life experience;
* Having said that, Madeline Bailey's "The Encylopedia of Wild Things" was a stand out for me in feeling like it was, in fact, a way in to a child's viewpoint;
* The two biggest stand-outs in my read were Melissa Lucashenko's "Dreamers" and Verity Borthwick's "Barren Ground". (I'd read Josephine Rowe's "Glisk" when it debuted in ABR, or it might have joined them). Lucashenko is solidifying as one of my favourite authors of the moment (with a book due this year!), and this tale managed a huge punch without for one second feeling contrived. Borthwick's Barren Ground was breathtaking in the depth with which she managed, in a story strongly constrained to a single decision, held to over a brief but interminable journey. I'm keen to see what she does next.
* I had been toying with buying Ryan O'Neill's prize winning novel/faux history/whatever as on paper it looked like something I'd love. I'm glad I didn't because I absolutely *hated* "Polly Stepford" (A set of recycled stereotypes, depressingly close to truth, but with neither the vitality nor the point of the actual truth). So, good to know it isn't for me.
* Also really enjoyed Tony Birch's "Sissy" and Joe Rubbo's "Trampoline". I don't have the patience/interest in gritty procedural to persist with Birch's crime fiction, so it was to remember how good a writer he is; and Rubbo's was one that more successfully captured a young voice.
* "Perry Feral" by Allee Richards got right under my skin. I hated the reading experience, while acknowledging how good the writing must have been to me in that state. Still not sure what was being triggered there.
*Even in a short, straightforward intro Beneba Clarke is fabulous. She loves words and they love her right back in turn.
* More than a third of the stories take a child's perspective to reflect on trauma, or just a slice of Australian culture. It's a really effective technique, but by the end of the compilation I was a bit over it. It's actually quite difficult to capture a child's voice well, which is probably why it is more often attempted in short than long form, and most of the time the point is to allow the author inside knowledge not available to the protagonist, due to an absence of life experience;
* Having said that, Madeline Bailey's "The Encylopedia of Wild Things" was a stand out for me in feeling like it was, in fact, a way in to a child's viewpoint;
* The two biggest stand-outs in my read were Melissa Lucashenko's "Dreamers" and Verity Borthwick's "Barren Ground". (I'd read Josephine Rowe's "Glisk" when it debuted in ABR, or it might have joined them). Lucashenko is solidifying as one of my favourite authors of the moment (with a book due this year!), and this tale managed a huge punch without for one second feeling contrived. Borthwick's Barren Ground was breathtaking in the depth with which she managed, in a story strongly constrained to a single decision, held to over a brief but interminable journey. I'm keen to see what she does next.
* I had been toying with buying Ryan O'Neill's prize winning novel/faux history/whatever as on paper it looked like something I'd love. I'm glad I didn't because I absolutely *hated* "Polly Stepford" (A set of recycled stereotypes, depressingly close to truth, but with neither the vitality nor the point of the actual truth). So, good to know it isn't for me.
* Also really enjoyed Tony Birch's "Sissy" and Joe Rubbo's "Trampoline". I don't have the patience/interest in gritty procedural to persist with Birch's crime fiction, so it was to remember how good a writer he is; and Rubbo's was one that more successfully captured a young voice.
* "Perry Feral" by Allee Richards got right under my skin. I hated the reading experience, while acknowledging how good the writing must have been to me in that state. Still not sure what was being triggered there.
*Even in a short, straightforward intro Beneba Clarke is fabulous. She loves words and they love her right back in turn.
February 8, 2019
Like with all short story collections, there were some that were stronger than others, that left me thinking about them. However, the ones I liked the least were always just fine, never bad.
January 4, 2018
I don’t often read short stories and this book has me questioning why that is! However, I think the emotional intensity that short stories provide, with their little vignettes, are maybe just to much for my psyche. But this was a great collection with voices speaking from immigrant, Aboriginal, children and working class perspectives, as well as many of the more expected ones. They grabbed at my heart, especially the one from a dyslexic kid’s voice, and another one that imagined Australians as migrants on boats trying to get away from famine and disaster to a better place. Great way to end my year of reading Australian books.
February 2, 2018
I thoroughly enjoyed this collection and was awed by the talented writers we have in Australia. Each story took me on a journey that had me thinking, staring off into space.
July 13, 2018
This is a stunning collection of stories that more than makes up for last year's post modern rambling mess. I liked every single one which is rare in a collection & some were amazing. Even the ones I usually wouldn't like (Polly Stepford for eg) had something important to say about Australia today. Many had Aboriginal characters & I think most explored the role as outsider. The perfect short story can wrench your heart with a minimum of words & much perfection is to be found here. I found Dreamers to be the one that made me gasp out loud but read them all. They are great. The series is back on track.
January 17, 2018
Like all "best" collections, this one is a mixed bag. "Best" in relation to writing (or perhaps any art) can only ever be a subjective judgement and in some cases I found myself questioning how the story got included. In others, it was clear. Josephine Rowe's "Glisk" for me was the standout. This writer comes very close to perfecting the short story form. Others that impressed were "Sissy" by Tony Birch, "Trampoline" by Joe Rubbo and "Dreamers" by Melissa Lucashenko.
March 8, 2018
A really really good collection! 'Dreamers' by Melissa Lucashenko and 'Help Me Harden My Heart' by Dominic Amerena were my stand out faves, but generally they were all memorable. The introduction talks about short stories leaving you with a sense of haunting, and the editor has done a great job of selecting ones that absolutely do so.
March 3, 2018
Another great anthology. Some stunners in here.
June 2, 2018
a little disappointing and down on quality from previous years. There are however a few stories worth seeking out.
read "Glisk" and enjoy
read "Glisk" and enjoy
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January 16, 2019I particularly enjoyed 'Sissy' by Tony Birch, 'Help Me Harden My Heart' by Dominic Amerena, 'The Boat' by Joshua Mostafa, and 'Polly Stepford (1932-1997)' by Ryan O'Neill.
January 8, 2020
More reading for R2W preparation - Trampoline and Miracles were standouts for me, but to be honest this was a thoroughly fulfilling collection as a whole.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews