Wild, Wild Women
Janis Freegard
Winner of the ATB | ITK 2023 award for short stories
Sometimes touching, sometimes troubling, these adventures introduce us to women who don’t stand still: scandalous women, runaway women, daring women, wild women.
ISBN: 978-1-0670089-0-1
Format: Paperback, A5, 188pp
RRP: NZ $25.00
Category: Short story
Publication: 19 June 2024
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About the book
Sometimes touching, sometimes troubling, these adventures introduce us to women who don’t stand still: scandalous women, runaway women, daring women.
From a teenage fugitive seeking safety in an Auckland strip club to a biologist on her way to Moeraki to reconnect with an old flame, Freegard’s female characters take agency. They try to enlarge their own lives. Sometimes their choices delight; sometimes their wildness leaves heartache in its wake.
A tea leaf reader sets someone on a fresh path; a friendship is tested by unreasonable behaviour; a lesbian couple argue over grammar; a woman swims laps for a stranger. Startling and at times surreal, Janis Freegard’s stories are wise, weird, wonderful and wild.
Cover art Fleur Chalmers
Dust off your fake ID and strap yourself in for an exhilarating ride with Dulcie, Lorelei, Shaz, Boudicca and the many other fun and fabulous women in Janis Freegard’s world. A celebration of all things female, Wild, Wild Women is the perfect read for all the girls and non-girls in your life (fish-deniers included)! – Jennifer Lane, author of Miracle
I loved Janis Freegard’s compulsive and strange stories. Populated by mermaids, punks, tea leaf readers, vintage car lovers and people figuring out their inner fish, these stories crackle with energy, pathos and wit. The women are fierce and don’t always make the right decisions, but they’ll take you on a wildly enjoyable ride. – Sarah Laing, author of Mansfield and Me: A Graphic Memoir
Full of bittersweet, poignant moments and deep, resounding emotions. It’s astonishing how quickly Freegard makes us care about these characters, and how profoundly we feel for them – Jared Gulian, author of Moon Over Martinborough
About the author
Janis Freegard is the author of a novel, The Year of Falling (Mākaro Press, 2015), and several poetry collections, most recently Reading the Signs (The Cuba Press, 2020). Her fiction and poetry are widely published in Aotearoa and internationally, and have gained several awards, including the BNZ Katherine Mansfield Short Story Award. Born in South Shields, England, she grew up in the UK, South Africa, Australia and Aotearoa, and has lived in Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington) most of her life.