Spotlight: The Kindness of Birds by Merlinda Bobis

The Kindness of Birds

by

Merlinda Bobis

 

Publisher: Spinifex Press

 

Publication date: 4th May 2021

 

Genre: Literary Fiction

 

Pages: 256

 

Format: Paperback

 

RRP: AU $26.95 / NZ $33.95 / US $24.95

 

About the book

 

An oriole sings to a dying father. A bleeding-heart dove saves the day. A crow wakes a woman’s resolve. Owls help a boy endure isolation. Cockatoos attend the laying of the dead. Always there are birds in these linked stories that pay homage to kindness and the kinship among women and the planet. From Australia to the Philippines, across cultures and species, kindness inspires resilience amidst loss and grief. Being together ignites resistance against violence. We pull through in the company of others.

 

An anthology of 14 linked short stories that readers will find deeply moving and heartfelt.

 

Merlinda Bobis is an utterly distinctive voice in Australian letters. In our ironic and cynical times, here are stories of heartfelt feeling - fulsome, tender and unabashed - in which grief and hope are equally things with feathers - Gail Jones, award-winning novelist. 

 

About the author

 

Award-winning writer Merlinda Bobis has had four novels, six poetry books, and a collection of short stories published, and ten dramatic works performed. Her novel Locust Girl, A Lovesong received the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards and the Philippine National Book Award. Her poetry collection Accidents of Composition was Highly Commended for the ACT Book of the Year Award. For her, writing is homecoming: a return to roots, a retrieval through memory, and a reckoning with loss hopefully with care and grace.