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New Australian Fiction 2023 is now available to read on the KYD website, exclusively for KYD Members

Find all the stories here.

A big thank you to all the readers who supported New Australian Fiction 2023. New Australian Fiction 2024 will be released on 1 September 2024. Purchase yours from our website, bundle it with a KYD Membership, or order from your local independent bookseller.

Introduction—July 2023

Greetings from the new normal. Normal, of course, is relative. Last year, as I wrote my introduction, every word had added bounce from Covid-induced coughing. This year, my hand is steady. But just. The world has seemingly returned to full-throttle pace. But just. In my second year at the helm of this anthology, reading hundreds of submissions, it seems there’s some extra dissonance in the air. Things may get weirder yet.

This is the fifth edition of New Australian Fiction, which was first launched in 2019 with the aim of providing much-needed space for new voices and perspectives. The series has grown during this time of flux, reaching readers all around the country (as well as overseas), and more and more of them each year. If you are returning, we welcome you back with open arms and thank you deeply for your support. To new readers, come on in!

It’s a pleasure to introduce you to the work of these writers—some established, some emerging, some published in print for the first time. Relishing another opportunity to edit this collection, I was again encouraged to find narrative gems, without any theme or style in mind—except they should be in the realm of the ‘literary’, an elusive and loaded term. Even more amorphous, they also needed to be ‘Australian’. These stories come from all around the country, from writers whose links to this land are as varied as they are. Each one is a shift of the kaleidoscope, offering new visions of local creativity. I wholeheartedly thank them all for making this anthology come to life.

These stories come from all around the country, from writers whose links to this land are as varied as they are.

There is also a team of brilliant people behind this book, without whom it wouldn’t exist. I’d like to express my gratitude to my Kill Your Darlings colleagues Rebecca Starford, Alan Vaarwerk and Madeline Crehan for their hard work and good spirits. To the talented Alissa Dinallo—you’ve given us another sublime cover. Big thanks to our submissions readers Caitlin McGregor and Mekdes Yimam for their enthusiasm and keen eyes. Mek was also our copyeditor and provided generous insights. To our First Nations editorial consultant Bianca Valentino, from black&write!—as always, it’s a pleasure to work with you, and I am excited to see what you get up to next.

Stephen King once wrote that a short story is like a kiss in the dark from a stranger. In that spirit, we present to you twelve tales, each a vivid encounter in itself—at turns mysterious, alluring and unnerving. You’ll find love, war and the price of peace. You’ll find secret doors, mysterious holes and the lure of an open highway. You’ll find voices and memories lost, and voices and memories recovered. Stories sometimes rooted in the real, sometimes leaning towards the strange, or maybe just hinting towards other kinds of ‘new normal’. Curated within this anthology, the stories may seem securely contained. But opening these pages, dear reader, get ready to pucker up.

We hope you enjoy the collection.

Featuring: Daniel Alwan, Chris Ames, Shaeden Berry, André Dao, Chris Flynn, Natasha Hertanto, Eleanor Kirk, Julie Koh, Hope Loveday, Kalem Murray, Madeleine Rebbechi and Allee Richards.