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Anna Spargo-Ryan Anna Spargo-Ryan i(8245365 works by)
Gender: Female
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Works By

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1 Dust Anna Spargo-Ryan , 2023 single work poetry
— Appears in: A Line in the Sand 2023;
1 Will We Fuck for Pleasure in the Apocalypse? Anna Spargo-Ryan , 2022 single work essay
— Appears in: Meanjin , December vol. 81 no. 4 2022; (p. 3-5)

'I live near an ambulance depot. Without exception, I wake in the peach pre-dawn to an orchestra of rising sirens. I imagine all the individual worlds that have ended in the night, every person who has opened their eyes to find a newly minted corpse alongside them. Every day I wake thinking about a thousand deaths and still I reach across to my adults-only drawer and wish myself a good morning.' (Publication abstract)

1 Foundling Anna Spargo-Ryan , 2022 single work short story
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 26-22 July 2022;
1 5 y separately published work icon A Kind of Magic Anna Spargo-Ryan , Prahran : Hardie Grant Books , 2022 24678003 2022 single work autobiography

A memoir about anxiety, our minds, and optimism in spite of it all

Where do mental illness stories begin?

'Anna’s always had too many feelings. Or not enough feelings – she’s never been quite sure. Debilitating panic. Extraordinary melancholy. Paranoia. Ambivalence. Fear. Despair. 

'From anxious child to terrified parent, mental illness has been a constant. A harsh critic in the big moments –  teenage pregnancy, divorce, a dream career, falling in love – and a companion in the small ones – getting to the supermarket, feeding all her cats, remembering which child is which.

'But between therapists’ rooms and emergency departments, there’s been a feeling even harder to explain … optimism.

'In this sharp-eyed and illuminating memoir, award-winning writer Anna Spargo-Ryan pieces together the relationships between time, mental illness, and our brain as the keeper of our stories. Against the backdrop of her own experience, she interrogates reality, how it can be fractured, and why it’s so hard to put it back together. 

'Powerfully honest, tender and often funny, A Kind of Magic blends meticulous research with vivid snapshots of the stuff that breaks us, and the magic of finding ourselves again.'  (Publication summary)

1 Goodbye Ramsay Street? Why We’re Not Ready for Neighbours to End Anna Spargo-Ryan , 2022 single work essay
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 7 February 2022;
1 The Sad Old Flesh : How We Use Non-Human Characters to Interrogate Humanity Anna Spargo-Ryan , 2021 single work criticism
— Appears in: Reading Like an Australian Writer 2021;
1 Joy Anna Spargo-Ryan , 2021 single work autobiography
— Appears in: Meanjin , Summer vol. 80 no. 4 2021;

'The ocean smells of a layer of wet sand that has dried in the night, that cracks and buckles under bare feet. It smells of blood that’s drawn from walking too close to a sharp coastal grass. The ocean smells of a blast of cold air that tightens the skin, of salt-caked lips, of the slap of tarmac on the drive home.'  (Introduction)

1 At The End Of Days, Be Glad There Were Others Anna Spargo-Ryan , 2019 single work essay
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2019;
1 How to Build a Cat Kingdom Anna Spargo-Ryan , 2019 single work short story
— Appears in: Funny Bones 2019;
1 My Story : The Little Essay That Won Anna Spargo-Ryan , 2018 single work essay
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2018;
1 Rings Anna Spargo-Ryan , 2018 single work short story
— Appears in: Verandah , no. 33 2018; (p. 8-9)
1 Shearwater Rock Anna Spargo-Ryan , 2018 single work short story
— Appears in: Going Down Swinging , no. 39 2018; (p. 245-257)
1 You Know How This Looks Anna Spargo-Ryan , 2018 single work short story
— Appears in: Island , no. 152 2018; (p. 14)
1 Their Grotesque Indifference Anna Spargo-Ryan , 2017 single work
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2017;
1 What I’m Reading Anna Spargo-Ryan , 2017 single work column
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2017;
1 Useful Tips for Broken Hearts Anna Spargo-Ryan , 2017 single work short story
— Appears in: The Big Issue , August no. 544 2017; (p. 59-60)
1 'Jean Harley Was Here' by Heather Taylor Johnson Anna Spargo-Ryan , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 391 2017;
'There is much to like about a well-executed set of short stories, and this is true of Jean Harley Was Here. While the book presents itself as a novel, it has more in common with Elizabeth Strout’s multi-narrator linked collection Olive Kitteridge (2008). This structural choice gives Heather Taylor Johnson enormous opportunity to explore the many aspects of grief.' (Introduction)
1 In Pursuit of Nostalgia Anna Spargo-Ryan , 2017 single work autobiography
— Appears in: The Lifted Brow , March no. 33 2017; (p. 23-25)
'At Christmas I sat at a pizza shop by the sea. We had a family-sized ‘Aussie’ to share, conveyor-belt crisp and drunk with salt. The night was hot, teeming with flies and with people and their laughter and togetherness. There was nothing to link that Melbourne beach with anywhere from my Adelaide Hills childhood, but when I bit into the pizza and its supermarket shredded ham I was left breathless. Not only because the oil was solidifying in my arteries but because, briefly, I was home again.' (Introduction)
1 6 y separately published work icon The Gulf Anna Spargo-Ryan , Sydney : Pan Macmillan Australia , 2017 10894885 2017 single work novel

'My mother had morphed into versions of all kinds of boyfriends before Jason. She'd been a cowboy boot wearer and a biker chick and a Liberal voter. She'd been a person who went to raves in the bush and a person who watched horror movies and a person who had to sleep with the fan on. They'd come and go, and she'd snap back to herself. But no one had shattered her the way Jason did.

'When her mother falls for some guy that she met at the supermarket, sixteen-year-old Skye immediately senses danger. Jason is charming but secretive, prone to fits of temper. He comes and goes at all hours. He has strange friends. Soon he has convinced her mother quit her job and come to work with him... whatever he does.

'When Jason persuades Linda that she and her kids should move into his place in Port Flinders - a struggling town in South Australia's Gulf region - Skye and her brother Ben do their best to settle into a new routine. But as Jason's behaviour becomes more unpredictable, and their mother increasingly absent, Skye finds herself forced to make decisions that will change all of their lives for good.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

1 Takeaways Anna Spargo-Ryan , 2016 single work short story
— Appears in: Seizure [Online] , June 2016;
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