Kerry Lane is a poet and playwright from Aotearoa with past lives in science and teaching. They currently live in Scotland where they work in theatre and refugee justice.
Two pieces follow, extracted from our hybrid memoir Take Two. We wrote the book from the starting point of having shared a significant chunk of our lives and a mix of memories
How does the short story situate itself in Aotearoa's literary history and how will this new publishing arrangement further support the development of short stories in our culture?
Hybrid seems to be the form that eludes definition – breaking down boundaries and finding its own way. We asked David Eggleton to weigh in with his views on hybrid writing.
Flash fiction is defined, yes, by word count – usually up to 1000 words. People always ask about that first. But let’s not be focused only on word count.
Joe braked without thinking, without checking for other cars in the rearview mirror. He loved this route: the sunny Hawke’s Bay countryside rolling away as far as his eyes could reach.
Like a boy This visit, Dad is finishing his lunch. He’s been eating it with a knife, which one of the carers tries to change to a fork, but it looks like it’s a ‘stubborn’ day. He is happy to see me and punches my arm and starts ‘talking’ – making circles with his hands and raising his eyebrows.…
England Jonjon Belmont had the hint of a moustache, the hint of a personality. He always lay close to the edge of our bed, the copious Snake-Bites we consumed in the Eastbourne pub on the summer solstice had created an unreality so real I could feel scales instead of skin. Drunk and feeling touristy, we headed for the infamous suicide…
Katherine Mansfield Sparkling Prose 2024 – Long List Diana Crawford is so familiar with the route to her childhood home that the car nearly drives itself. Turning left, she chats to her parents’ ghosts. “Mum, are you still giving him the silent treatment up there? I’ve emptied the kitchen. Why six teapots? Sorry, Dad. It’s the workshop today. Everything’s…
Katherine Mansfield Sparkling Prose 2024 – Long List Mick drove, his right arm leaning out the window, tanned to the colour of teak below the rolled sleeve of his shirt. Paul lay across the back seat, floppy hair hiding his eyes. His T-shirt was dark and slick with sweat. I sat in the front passenger seat bent over an…
Katherine Mansfield Sparkling Prose 2024 – Long List Nanny Teria was big once. There’s photos of her standing tall beside my mother and a lot wider. When I knew her, though, she was little – folded over her walking stick with thin birdy wrists and hands with bones sticking out. Her legs, you wondered how they could hold her…
Katherine Mansfield Sparkling Prose 2024 – Long List “If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t…
