Helen Garner is a fan of this undeniably brilliant essay
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Exposing hidden vulnerabilities with imagery that is disarming
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Last modified on Thu 11 Mar 2021 18.47 EST
Alison Croggon doesnât wish her sister harm. She dreads the thought of any rogue accident or illness that might drag her back into what she experienced as the poisonous tangle of their relationship. Monsters: A Reckoning is a tale of siblings torn apart by a shared past â one sisterâs wounded memories of the other. âHer suffering must always be much greater than the suffering of others â but what if it actually is? What then? No, I couldnât bear it,â Croggon admits. âWhat kind of person reacts like that?â she asks us, or perhaps only herself. âWhat sort of person is cruel enough to write it down? Some kind of monster. Me, it seems.â
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Novelist S.L. Lim has become the first non-binary writer to be in contention for one of Australia’s most important literary awards since changes were made to the eligibility requirements of the $50,000 Stella Prize for women’s writing.
But Lim, who made the longlist with second novel
Revenge: Murder in Three Parts, played down the significance of the inclusion which comes after the award changed entry guidelines to include women-identifying and non-binary writers in 2019.
Lim said they did not see their achievement as a milestone because the inclusion of non-binary and trans women in the prize was simply a necessary correction of a harmful prejudice. It was only noteworthy, they said, because the “standard of human being in the world is so incredibly low that not being a TERF [trans-exclusionary radical feminist] is something we need to feel gratitude for”.