What are the hares getting up to among the sunflowers? Who is paying $6000 for a raincoat? The priest is good, kind, adored, believed – but can the schoolgirl trust him? Who kills his wife and dumps the body in the pool? What if you find your death was listed long ago online? With lightness in the telling, with subtle harmonies and...

People who are beginning to write fiction, particularly people living in remote places, often send their manuscripts to an assessor, and the letters in the original edition of Dear Writer were inspired by correspondence I had with writers when I was reading their manuscripts. I used to sign my letters with the name of a character from...

Short fiction by Jon Steiner. Sample story: Jungle Train. Roisin finds that traveling across Malaysia with her partner's parents is not what she expected.

‘We’re All Travellers Here’ won the Carmel Bird Award. Award judge Michael McGirr said my prize-winning tale: is ‘the story of an older mother and her adult son on tour. The son is buried alive in his own sophistication and self-concern. The mother eclipses him with her open appetite for life. Both portraits are realised with subtlety...

A collection of short stories set in places as diverse as a nudist colony, the corporate world and prison. Beneath her wry humour and snappy style, Chevalier brings insight and compassion to her depiction of contemporary Australian life and to growing up in America. 'Meant' shows the challenges facing someone leaving jail and starting...