Author(s): Michelle Elvy (Selected by); James Norcliffe (Selected by); Glyn Strange

New Zealand

Aotearoa's young writers pour their minds and hearts into stories, poems, graphic arts and reflections that make up this rich volume. From familiar New Zealand landscapes to surreal imaginings, these offerings demonstrate a remarkable resilience in the face of what has been yet another difficult year. There is displacement and ambivalence, even grief. The darkness lurks here: these writers have, after all, grown up in our post-everything century. And yet in these pages you will find humour and perspective, a sense of the absurd and the joyous. If these young writers represent the future, we can be reassured by their sense of reality that also holds a thread of kindness, of hope, of looking ahead. Discover "a world alive, where it all begins."