New Australian Fiction 2021

This is a riveting, thoughtful collection. These beautiful stories will transport you to other worlds. — Mirandi Riwoe

A son becomes enthralled in his father's quest for treasure. A young woman is blamed for an unfathomable act. Teenagers break into an airfield. Strangers meet in the night. The world is thrown into chaos when people spontaneously combust.

New Australian Fiction features brilliant writers with distinct experiences, voices, and styles from all corners of Australia. Together, they showcase the strength and diversity of Australian short fiction at its best. These stories will move, entertain, and enlighten you.

...the anthology contains something for everyone to relish, to learn from, and to be dazzled by. All 16 stories in this collection teem with sharp prose, writing that fosters intrigue and elicits empathy, deftly inviting the reader to step into vivid snapshots of moments in the narrators' lives. New Australian Fiction 2021 is a versatile and immersive collection that promises to delight all lovers of fiction. — Shivani Prabhu, Books+Publishing

The sixteen stories in this year's New Australian Fiction anthology differ in subject matter, form, and style, but what they have in common is the sense of apprehension and uncertainty produced by the pandemic and by the threat to the environment and to humanity posed by the effects of climate change. As editor Rebecca Starford points out in her thoughtful introduction, even when the stories are ostensibly about such things as family, isolation, travel, or sexual uncertainty and adventure, the fragile mood of our times underlies them. It makes for introspective and vulnerable voices and characters, and often for memorable stories that linger in the mind. — The Age/Sydney Morning Herald

Praise for previous editions:

At a clutch moment in Australian publishing, the volume certainly has its finger on the pulse. — The Age, Pick of the Week

Nuanced, captivating and accomplished. Australian short fiction is indeed alive and well. — Maxine Beneba Clark