The hours spent drafting and re-drafting, workshopping, endlessly editing and footnoting, have paid off. It’s been a long process, but our determination to ask the questions that make readers stop and think kept our creativity alive. I am proud to say we’ve all come a long way since our first drafts.
This year the nine creative non-fiction writers brought together a colourful array of work for The Quarry, which challenged our ideas of what it means to be human in a world of inequality, temptation, and destruction: everything from exploring diversity in Hollywood, to the expansive power of silence. There is the exploration of women in gaming, and the reality of being a writer. The truth of Sydney’s culture and nightlife, ice addiction, and Indigenous dispossession is uncovered. Even Sumatran Orangutans make an appearance.
Atticus Finch once said, ‘You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.’ Our dynamic pieces of writing all exhibit how human empathy may be endangered; and the danger of neglecting the instinct that truly makes us human.
The time has finally come for our work to come alive. For your pleasure and our gratification, enjoy!
Victoria Marin