Brothers and Sisters (37 page)

CATE KENNEDY is the author of the short-story collection
Dark
Roots
(Scribe); the memoir
Sing
; and
Don’t Cry: A Mexican Journal
(Transit Lounge); and two collections of poetry,
Signs of Other Fires
(Five Islands Press) and
Joyflight
(Interactive Press). Her novel
The
World Beneath
will be published by Scribe in late 2009. Her short stories have been published widely, appearing everywhere from
The New Yorker
to
The Big Issue
. She lives in Victoria’s northeast with her partner and daughter, fitting in as much writing and reading as possible.

NAM LE’S debut collection of short stories,
The Boat
, was published in 2008 and has since been translated into twelve languages. Its honours include the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the Dylan Thomas Prize, the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award for Book of the Year, the UTS Glenda Adams Award, the Pushcart Prize, and selections in
The Sydney Morning Herald
Best Young Novelists and US National Book Foundation ‘5 Under 35’ awards. It was also selected as a
New York Times
Notable Book,
New York
Magazine
’s best book debut of 2008, and a book of the year by
The
Age
,
The Australian
,
The Sydney Morning Herald
, the
Herald Sun
,
The
Monthly
and other sources around the world. Le is currently the fiction editor of the
Harvard Review
.

ROGER McDONALD is the author of seven novels,
1915
,
Slipstream
,
Rough Wallaby
,
Water Man
,
The Slap
,
Mr Darwin’s Shooter
,
The Ballad
of Desmond Kale
, and of two books of non-fiction,
Shearers’ Motel
and
The Tree in Changing Light
. His work has been awarded
The Age
Book of the Year Award, the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award, the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, the South Australian Premier’s Literary Award, the Adelaide Festival Book of the Year, the Miles Franklin Literary Award, and the O. Henry Prize (USA).

PADY O’REILLY is the author of a collection of award-winning stories,
The End of the World
; a novel,
The Factory
; and a novella, ‘Deep Water’, in the novella anthology
Love and Desire
, edited by Cate Kennedy.

VIRGINIA PETERS is currently working on her first book, a creative non-fiction project focused on the area of crime. She is enrolled in the research program at Newcastle University. To date, her short stories have appeared in the
Sleepers Almanac
,
New Australian
Stories
and UTS anthologies. Virginia lives in the Northern Rivers region with her partner and three children in a place called Coorabell, not far from Byron Bay.

MICHAEL SALA was born in the Netherlands, and emigrated to Australia twice with his family; the first time as a five-year-old, and again when he was ten. He has experimented with various careers, including law, medicine and teaching. He still really likes teaching. In 2007, he was shortlisted for
The Australian
/Vogel Literary Award, and also awarded a mentorship with the Australian Society of Authors. He is currently working on his first novel while completing a PhD at the University of Newcastle.

CHRISTOS TSIOLKAS is the author of four novels:
The Slap
, which won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Overall Best Book, the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal, the Booksellers’ Choice Award and the ABIA Book of the Year and was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award and the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award;
Loaded
, which was made into the feature film
Head-On
;
The
Jesus Man
; and
Dead Europe
, which won the 2006
Age
Fiction Prize and the 2006 Melbourne Best Writing Award. Christos also collaborated with Sasha Soldatow on
Jump Cuts
and is the author of a monograph on Fred Schepisi’s
The Devil’s Playground
. He is also a playwright, essayist and screenwriter. He lives in Melbourne.

CHARLOTE WOOD is the editor of this collection and author of
The Children
,
The Submerged Cathedral
and
Pieces of a Girl
. Her novels have been shortlisted for various prizes including the Miles Franklin Literary Award and the regional Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. She is a proud member of PEN, the human rights group working to protect freedom of expression around the world. Charlotte has four siblings and lives in Sydney with her husband Sean.

Acknowledgements

The editor wishes to thank all the contributors to this collection, not only for their stunning writing, but their receptiveness and enthusiasm for the project. Sincere thanks also to Jane Palfreyman for suggesting the book, to Jenny Darling and Donica Bettanin, to editors Ali Lavau, Siobhán Cantrill and Clara Finlay, to Andy Palmer and Felicity McLean, and to Gayna Murphy.