Someone Like Me

Dr Clem Bastow (they/them) is a screenwriter, cultural critic and award-winning critical Autism studies researcher from Naarm–Melbourne. Clem works as a screenwriter and neurodiversity consultant for film and TV, and teaches screenwriting at the University of Melbourne. Clem’s debut non-fiction book, Late Bloomer, was published in 2021. They have contributed to books including Investigating Stranger Things and ReFocus: The films of Elaine May, and their writing appears regularly in The Guardian. They’re currently working on a series of critical Autism studies essays and a collection of speculative fiction short stories.Jo Case (she/her) is a writer and editor who lives in Adelaide. Her memoir of autistic motherhood, Boomer and Me, was published by Hardie Grant in 2013, and she has contributed personal essays to Mothermorphosis (MUP) and Rebellious Daughters (Ventura). She is the deputy editor of Books & Ideas at The Conversation and has worked in various roles in books and publishing, including as a festival programmer and literary editor. Her writing has been published in The Age/Sydney Morning Herald, The Monthly, Meanjin, Kill Your Darlings, The Big Issue Fiction Edition and Best Australian Stories.

What a comfort to read Someone Like Me with its stories of autistic experiences both intensely individual and recognisably shared. There is such power in these narratives of the inner worlds and outer journeys that the writers have taken and although this collection crosses continents, despite the distance, we are still the same; fighting for our place in the world. And within these pages, perhaps at least for a moment, we can find it