Hatched: Celebrating 20 Years of the Tim Winton Award for Young Writers (foreword by Tim Winton, Fremantle Press)

Short stories are little adventures that allow us to fall briefly from our world into another—a fundamental part of the human experience, as Tim Winton writes in his introduction to this anthology, which commemorates 20 years of the Tim Winton Award for Young Writers. This book brings together the winning entries in each category, from lower primary through to upper secondary, from 1993-2012. The calibre and diversity of the writing is mind-blowing—many of the stories are so accomplished I often forgot they were penned by children. While many seek to make sense of the everyday world, exploring issues of alienation, bullying and morality, others imagine less familiar lives and themes of ageing, loss, regret and love with great empathy and maturity. Equally impressive are those reaching into history and worlds of pure fantasy. Whether aiming for gritty realism, poetic affect, awareness or something more upbeat, the authors share a common goal to make their readers think, feel and question, and a fearlessness in capturing it all on the page. Inspiring for upper primary and secondary students, this is also a book for lovers of short stories who revel in unexpected journeys and different perspectives.

Meredith Lewin is a Sydney-based freelance proofreader and reviewer who has worked for a children’s publisher

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

Category: Reviews