A collective conscience knew her body by heart. It had touched it all. It lived in everyone who’d put his hands on her, data sucked up and filed with every squeeze of the shoulder, lingering hug, brush down to the waist, kiss on the cheek,...
This story placed third in the Tandem Press short story competition for young New Zealanders in 2001, written when I was 17 years old. The accompanying anthology was published later that year. It was one of my first pieces of flash fiction and my first...
This story was longlisted in the London Independent Short Story Prize in December, 2019. My interview with LISP talks about the story's theme and writing in general. By the time I was standing on stage at the Congress Centre in Bloomsbury, plastic clicker in hand and...
Running along the South Bank in London a few years ago, I caught and passed a male runner. He shouted "bitch!" at me as I ran past and tried to sprint to keep up. I can be hot-headed and so while I primarily felt angry...
You loser. You: loser. And me. Last summer, the English football team did well in the World Cup in Russia and a lot of people in this country were elated and surprised in equal parts. It was a lot of fun, even as someone who was...
First published 21 December, 2011 “You, guy,” he said to my boyfriend across the table. “It’s not fair. You bring this girl here. It’s not fair.” We asked why not. “Because all women who come to conferences should be available,” he replied. Available to him. Throughout...
In the haze that rises off Manukau Harbour, the hills stretching beyond West Auckland are known for little but their leafy suburbs and relative inaccessibility from the city by public transport. After homes at the end of Titirangi's evergreen crescents give way to bush, Auckland’s...