Allen & Unwin acquires AN EXCITING AND VIVID INNER LIFE by Sunday Times Short Story Award shortlisted Australian author Paul Dalla Rosa
Jane Palfreyman at Allen & Unwin has acquired a thrilling collection of short stories, AN EXCITING AND VIVID INNER LIFE by Sunday Times Short Story Award shortlisted Australian author Paul Dalla Rosa from Caspian Dennis at Abner Stein on behalf of Kent Wolf at Neon Literary. Hannah Westland at Serpent’s Tail acquired UK & Commonwealth rights ex ANZ.
Whether working in food service or in high-end retail, lit by a laptop in a sex chat or by the camera of an acclaimed film director, or sharing a flat in the city or a holiday rental in Mallorca, the protagonists of the 10 stories comprising Paul Dalla Rosa’s debut collection navigate the spaces between aspiration and delusion, ambition and aimlessness, the curated profile and the unreliable body. By turns unsparing and tender, Dalla Rosa explores our lives in late-stage capitalism, where globalisation and its false promises of connectivity leave us further alienated and disenfranchised. Like the legendary Lucia Berlin and his contemporary Ottessa Mossfegh, Dalla Rosa is a masterful observer—and hilarious eviscerator—of our ugly, beautiful attempts at finding meaning in an ugly, beautiful world.
Publisher Jane Palfreyman says: ‘Paul is a seriously talented writer and I am so excited to be publishing this dazzling debut. His stories are small masterpieces of regret, futility and tenderness, dripping with acuity, irony and wit; his gaze is unflinching, his delivery is searingly deadpan and his heart is tender and true.’
Paul Dalla Rosa says: ‘I couldn’t be happier that the collection found a home with Allen & Unwin. Jane and Allen & Unwin really champion Australian literary fiction. It’s still a little surreal to say, but I’m honoured to join a list including Christos Tsiolkas, Michelle de Kretser, and some of the most exciting new Australian writers around. I can’t wait for the book to be in the hands of readers.’
Category: Classifieds
