Meeting writers on the page since 1996

Showcase

Sarah Clement

“From the doorway, it looks as if a flock of baby doves has landed on our coffee table. Mum glances up at me from where she’s sitting crossed-legged on the floor. Her face is wet with tears. She unwinds some toilet paper from the roll, wipes her eyes, blows her nose, and puts the screwed-up tissue on the table with the rest.”

From A Ton of Feathers – included in the showcase

“A while ago I discovered the evocative words Understory and Overstory. The understory is the layer of vegetation – flowers, shrubs and small trees – growing beneath the main canopy of a forest. The overstory is the canopy, the leaves and branches of the tall fully-grown trees. There are many ways to tell a story and it can take a long time to discover which vantage point to take. The image of the understory and overstory helped me to think about the relationship between the two manuscripts I have written. The first was an unpublished coming-of-age novel entitled A Ton of Feathers and the second is my mental health memoir, Unblotting, which my agent has recently sent out on submission.” From the Introduction