Can a memoir begin without memories? Can a father be invented? When David Carlin was only six months old, his father, Brian, died. It was the 1960s in isolated Western Australia, a place in which emotions were discreetly veiled, women did not attend funerals — and suicide was a sin. Brian became a mysteriously absent figure in David’s family story, hardly spoken of again.

As an adult, David yearns to conjure up his father, to uncover what led to his death at his own hand. Gradually, he begins to piece together Brian’s story from the faltering memories of friends and relatives, and from the voices and incidents that emerge from Brian’s medical records. Into the inevitable gaps that remain, David cannot help but stray with his own imaginings.

Through David, Brian’s story starts to fill out — up rise the hessian walls of his childhood house on the edge of the wheat belt during the Depression, the outposts of heady undergraduate bohemia in late-1940s Perth, and Brian’s happily married life with a brilliant and loving young wife, and an equally brilliant career. But, in among it all, there also rises a darkness — a damaging undertow of electric-shock therapy, insulin comas, and whispered wartime events.

In this masterfully rendered memoir, David moves like a ghost through time and place, deftly weaving a story from what he has always known, and from all that he will never know.

From 21 of the best writers in the Asia-Pacific region comes a collection about finding connections where you least expect them.

It’s a sweltering night in Kuala Lumpur, and a journalist is protesting in a city on the edge of meltdown. It’s post-9/11 San Francisco, and a woman meets her foster child, who provokes painful reminders of her past. It’s contemporary Bangkok, and a writer’s encounter with ladyboy culture prompts him to explore gender boundaries. And high in Queensland’s Border Ranges, a boy prone to getting lost is having six tiny silver bells pinned to his chest …

The Near and The Far is what results when award-winning writers from Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Hong Kong share places, spaces, and ideas. Emerging from the Writers Immersion and Cultural Exchange program — a unique series of residencies, workshops, and dialogues between writers — this collection is a map of art and adventure, ideas and influences.

Featuring fiction and nonfiction from Cate Kennedy, Melissa Lucashenko, Maxine Beneba Clarke, Omar Musa, and many more, this collection bridges the distances between Asia, Australia, and the world. Every day is a border crossing, every story a threshold. Grab your passport and step beyond.

PRAISE FOR THE AUTHORS

‘A remarkable collection of 21 pieces ... As a bridge between literary spheres, we can only hope it is the first and not the last.’ The Australian

‘The anthology format presents a unique opportunity to represent diverse authors and literature in meaningful ways ... The Near and the Far travels a long way, literally and figuratively, in achieving this. An ... impressive anthology, sure to stir something powerful in many a reader.’ Australian Book Review

A dynamic cross-cultural collection of innovative writing from the Asia–Pacific region

In the outer suburbs of Perth, Australia, a seven-year-old discovers ballroom dancing. In Jakarta, Indonesia, a poet tries to move on with his life after splitting up with his boyfriend. In the Philippines’ Quezon City, a nurse reflects on her late mother while caring for a dying woman. And in the Uva province of Sri Lanka, a thirty-panel mural tells the story of a boy who refuses to speak a word.

This vibrant collection features writers who have forged connections across cultures and generations, with contributors from Australia, Papua New Guinea, South Korea, Vietnam, and China, among others. Through sharing perspectives and ideas in the Writers Immersion and Cultural Exchange program, they have created exciting new work that reveals the value of genuine dialogue and mutual respect.

Spanning fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from the Asia-Pacific’s finest writers — including Christos Tsiolkas, Alice Pung, Norman Erikson Pasaribu, Han Yujoo, Ellen van Neerven, and Ali Cobby Eckermann — The Near and The Far, Volume II invites readers on a unique and unforgettable journey.

Can a memoir begin without memories? Can a father be invented? When David Carlin was only six months old, his father, Brian, died. It was the 1960s in isolated Western Australia, a place in which emotions were discreetly veiled, women did not attend funerals — and suicide was a sin. Brian became a mysteriously absent figure in David’s family story, hardly spoken of again.

As an adult, David yearns to conjure up his father, to uncover what led to his death at his own hand. Gradually, he begins to piece together Brian’s story from the faltering memories of friends and relatives, and from the voices and incidents that emerge from Brian’s medical records. Into the inevitable gaps that remain, David cannot help but stray with his own imaginings.

Through David, Brian’s story starts to fill out — up rise the hessian walls of his childhood house on the edge of the wheat belt during the Depression, the outposts of heady undergraduate bohemia in late-1940s Perth, and Brian’s happily married life with a brilliant and loving young wife, and an equally brilliant career. But, in among it all, there also rises a darkness — a damaging undertow of electric-shock therapy, insulin comas, and whispered wartime events.

In this masterfully rendered memoir, David moves like a ghost through time and place, deftly weaving a story from what he has always known, and from all that he will never know.

From 21 of the best writers in the Asia-Pacific region comes a collection about finding connections where you least expect them.

It’s a sweltering night in Kuala Lumpur, and a journalist is protesting in a city on the edge of meltdown. It’s post-9/11 San Francisco, and a woman meets her foster child, who provokes painful reminders of her past. It’s contemporary Bangkok, and a writer’s encounter with ladyboy culture prompts him to explore gender boundaries. And high in Queensland’s Border Ranges, a boy prone to getting lost is having six tiny silver bells pinned to his chest …

The Near and The Far is what results when award-winning writers from Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Hong Kong share places, spaces, and ideas. Emerging from the Writers Immersion and Cultural Exchange program — a unique series of residencies, workshops, and dialogues between writers — this collection is a map of art and adventure, ideas and influences.

Featuring fiction and nonfiction from Cate Kennedy, Melissa Lucashenko, Maxine Beneba Clarke, Omar Musa, and many more, this collection bridges the distances between Asia, Australia, and the world. Every day is a border crossing, every story a threshold. Grab your passport and step beyond.

PRAISE FOR THE AUTHORS

‘A remarkable collection of 21 pieces ... As a bridge between literary spheres, we can only hope it is the first and not the last.’ The Australian

‘The anthology format presents a unique opportunity to represent diverse authors and literature in meaningful ways ... The Near and the Far travels a long way, literally and figuratively, in achieving this. An ... impressive anthology, sure to stir something powerful in many a reader.’ Australian Book Review

A dynamic cross-cultural collection of innovative writing from the Asia–Pacific region

In the outer suburbs of Perth, Australia, a seven-year-old discovers ballroom dancing. In Jakarta, Indonesia, a poet tries to move on with his life after splitting up with his boyfriend. In the Philippines’ Quezon City, a nurse reflects on her late mother while caring for a dying woman. And in the Uva province of Sri Lanka, a thirty-panel mural tells the story of a boy who refuses to speak a word.

This vibrant collection features writers who have forged connections across cultures and generations, with contributors from Australia, Papua New Guinea, South Korea, Vietnam, and China, among others. Through sharing perspectives and ideas in the Writers Immersion and Cultural Exchange program, they have created exciting new work that reveals the value of genuine dialogue and mutual respect.

Spanning fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from the Asia-Pacific’s finest writers — including Christos Tsiolkas, Alice Pung, Norman Erikson Pasaribu, Han Yujoo, Ellen van Neerven, and Ali Cobby Eckermann — The Near and The Far, Volume II invites readers on a unique and unforgettable journey.