Local writer Cate Kennedy is the winner of this year’s Furphy Literary Award with her short story Art and Life, an insightful look at a young classical violinist whose busking career takes an instructive turn.
“Art and Life, is quite humorous on the surface, but it’s really an allegory,” Kennedy said.
“The boy has no self-regulation and keeps sliding back into his persona, so often, that the real him doesn’t exist anymore.
“It’s a satirical look at the rabbit hole of creating personas online, especially for young people, and in particular during COVID.
“Just because being online is easy and convenient, doesn’t mean it doesn’t come at a cost; both psychological and social. We should really be out in the hurly-burly of the world bumping into people.”
Art and Life is featured in The Furphy Anthology 2022, alongside 16 short stories written by a mixture of newcomers and established writers.
“The book displays the works of 16 voices, giving people a glimpse of the world. The stories are sad, happy, funny, and a mixture of all three,” Kennedy said.
“Short story competitions like this give readers an opportunity to explore new authors.”
Kennedy is the author of two collections of short stories, one novel and three volumes of poetry. She works as a writing mentor and teacher living in Castlemaine with her 16-year-old daughter and a gigantic book collection.
“I was a big reader all through childhood,” she said.
“I must have been around nine or 10 years old and I thought, ‘I want to know how it works, how they have done this?’ Like a magic trick. I want to be able to do this trick, all the tricks.”
On writing short stories, Kennedy said short stories gave us a glimpse, like a shot you knock back, reading it in one sitting.
“I’ve always loved short stories. They’re like a small diving pool. Where you can only do one thing really well in a short time, go down, and come up again,” she said.
“With short stories creating a voice that feels real is so important. Letting the reader hear that voice… it’s very intimate. And you can’t waste a word.”
Head down to the Taproom at 6pm on Tuesday, December 6 for the Books at the Brewery: Christmas Event (put on by Northern Books) to buy a copy of the anthology and to hear Kennedy and fellow authors, Frank Bongiorno and Julietta Henderson, speak.
Tickets can be purchased at: www.northernbooks.com.au/christmas-event
