Against Disappearance

Essays on Memory

Leah Jing McIntosh

Adolfo Aranjuez

Against Disappearance Cover Image

Published: 30/08/2022
ISBN: 9780648987581
Genre: Literary Anthology
Pages: 296
RRP: $32.99

Against Disappearance

Essays on Memory

Leah Jing McIntosh

Adolfo Aranjuez

In this collection of new essays from the Liminal & Pantera Press Nonfiction Prize longlist, First Nations writers and writers of colour bend and shift boundaries, query the past and envision new futures. They ask: How do we write or hold our former selves, our ancestries? How does where we come from connect to where we are headed? How do we tell the stories of those who have been diminished or ignored in the writing of history? How do we do justice to the lives they lived, or to the people they were?

From the intricacies of trans becoming, to violences inflicted on stateless peoples, to complex inheritances and the intertwining of tradition, politics and place, this prescient collection challenges singular narratives about the past, offering testimony and prophecy alike.

ESSAYS BY André Dao, Barry Corr, Brandon K. Liew, Elizabeth Flux, Frankey Chung-Kok-Lun, grace ugamay dulawan, Hannah Wu, Hasib Hourani, Hassan Abul, Jon Tjhia, Kasumi Bocrzyk, Lucia Tường Vy Nguyễn, Lou Garcia-Dolnik, Lur Alghurabi, Mykaela Saunders, Ouyang Yu, Ruby-Rose Pivet-Marsh, Ryan Gustafsson, Suneeta Peres da Costa and Veronica Gorrie

‘Not written for white readers or to industry specifications, uncompromising, non-pandering, filled with love, awash with talent, this collection of sovereign essays sets blisteringly high standards of integrity and originality.’ Maria Tumarkin, author of Axiomatic

‘This is truly an explosive anthology of exciting voices you will be hearing from years from now. Each essay is a marvel in itself, a microcosm of insight and inventiveness; and together they make up the brilliant future of new Australian writing.’ Alice Pung, author of One Hundred Days

Against Disappearance is hot with guts. Each startling essay complicates memory in this colony and beyond. When brought together, they present memory and presence as a conversation among those forced to the margins of power, rather than as a canon that any one of us can hold alone. Gracious but without flinching, these essayists interrogate just how we and they come to publicly remember and be remembered.’ Alison Whittaker, author of Blakwork

‘Exciting, fresh, and profound. A diverse collection of First Nations and Writers of Colour, whose stories write underneath, between and above the mainstream to interrogate the nation. This collection will shift the way we think about and read creative nonfiction in the future.’ Jeanine Leane, author of Walk Back Over

 

Leah Jing McIntosh

Leah Jing McIntosh

Leah Jing McIntosh

Leah Jing McIntosh is the founding editor of LIMINAL magazine. Profiling and elevating the work of Asian-Australian creatives, LIMINAL was created in response to a need for greater diversity in the arts.

Since 2017, Leah has published over 150 long-form interviews by and for Asian-Australian creatives. She has curated collections of art and writing, and co-edited Comic Sans, an anthology of comics by writers of colour. As part of LIMINAL’s focus on building community, Leah also curates poetry and performance nights. She has collaborated with The New York Times, Melbourne Writers Festival, Australian National University, amongst other organisations, to promote the work of Asian-Australian creatives.

In 2019, Leah founded the LIMINAL Fiction Prize, the first Australian short fiction prize solely dedicated to writers of colour. Collisions, a forthcoming anthology of the longlisted pieces, will be published in November 2020, with Pantera Press.

Leah has written for The Saturday Paper, Meanjin Quarterly, and Archer Magazine, amongst others, and is currently completing her PhD at the University of Melbourne. She has been a Victorian nominee for Young Australian of the Year, named in Forbes Asia’s 30 Under 30: Class of 2020, and Asialink’s 40 under 40 most influential Asian-Australians.

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Adolfo Aranjuez

Adolfo Aranjuez

Adolfo Aranjuez

Adolfo Aranjuez is an editor, writer, speaker and dancer, and a member of Liminal’s editorial team since its inception. He has worked across periodical and book publishing for fifteen years, with past tenures as editor-in-chief of film/media journal Metro and LGBTQIA+ magazine Archer, and his essays, criticism and poetry have been published widely, including in Meanjin, Right Now, Screen Education, The Manila Review and Cordite. As an independent practitioner, he has performed movement and spoken word, hosted and appeared on panels, run workshops, judged literary prizes, and acted as advisor for a range of festivals, government, community and cultural organisations. Find out more: adolfoaranjuez.com

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