David Owen Kelly

Shortlisted, Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2025, Fiction Darlinghurst, Sydney: these are the days of strange rumours. Talk you can catch the gay plague from kissing, or from a mosquito bite. Talk of the government building a wall around 'Darlo' to keep the plague contained. Talk of old quarantine stations around Australia being reopened, of the army being used to round...

When David was a kid, he thought he knew everything—especially about his pesky and annoying siblings who kept popping up out of nowhere. But on the same night in 1980, David's two brothers ran away, severely beaten. Years later, David goes in search of them and, in the process, learns things about himself. State of Origin is a heart-warming and...