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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
Small Acts of Disappearance is a collection of ten essays that describes the author's affliction with an eating disorder which begins in high school, and escalates into life-threatening anorexia over the next ten years. Fiona Wright is a highly regarded poet and critic, and her account of her illness is informed by a keen sense of its contradictions and deceptions, and by an awareness of the empowering effects of hunger, which is unsparing in its consideration of the author's own actions and motivations. The essays offer perspectives on the eating disorder at different stages in Wright's life, at university, where she finds herself in a radically different social world to the one she grew up in, in Sri Lanka as a fledgling journalist, in Germany as a young writer, in her hospital treatments back in Sydney. They combine research, travel writing, memoir, and literary discussions of how writers like Christina Stead, Carmel Bird, Tim Winton, John Berryman and Louise Glück deal with anorexia and addiction; together with accounts of family life, and detailed and humorous views of hunger-induced situations of the kind that are so compelling in Wrights poetry. [Trove]
Notes
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Dedication: For my sisters: by blood, in-law and in arms
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Epigraph:
I speak of those years when I lived
walled alive in myself, left with nothing
but the inward search for joy, for a word
that would ruffle the plumage of mind
to reach its tenderest down;
when consuming myself I endured,
but could not change.
GWEN HARWOOD 'Past and Present'
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Large print.
Works about this Work
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The Stella Interview : Fiona Wright
2018
single work
interview
— Appears in: The Stella Interviews 2018;'Fiona Wright is shortlisted for the 2016 Stella Prize for her collection of essays, Small Acts of Disappearance: Essays on Hunger. We spoke to Fiona about writing fellowships, her favourite cafés and the people who inspire and influence her.' (Introduction)
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What I’m Reading
2017
single work
column
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2017; -
Fiona Wright's Small Acts of Disappearance Has a Big Win at the Kibble Award
2016
single work
— Appears in: Brisbane Times , 14 July 2016; 'Sydney poet and essayist Fiona Wright has won the $30,000 Kibble Literary Award for women's life writing. In her book, Small Acts of Disappearance, Wright examines her own anorexia and the significance of hunger in a slender collection of essays that are both intimate and intellectual, frank and filled with poetic observations. ...' -
Fiona Wright Wins $30,000 Kibble Prize for Essay Collection on Anorexia
2016
single work
column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 14 July 2016; 'The acclaimed writer, critic and poet Fiona Wright has won the prestigious Kibble award for Australian women writers, taking $30,000 for Small Acts of Disappearance, a collection of essays about anorexia. ...' -
Three Generations of Sydney Women Finalists for the 2016 Kibble Literary Award
2016
single work
column
— Appears in: Brisbane Times , 7 June 2016; 'Three generations of Sydney women are represented on the shortlist for the $30,000 Kibble Literary Award for women's life writing. ...'
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Food for Thought in Quest for Solace
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 3-4 October 2015; (p. 16)
— Review of Small Acts of Disappearance : Essays on Hunger 2015 selected work essay -
Intimate Truth about a Brutal Addiction
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 17-18 October 2015; (p. 28-29) The Saturday Age , 17-18 October 2015; (p. 24)
— Review of Small Acts of Disappearance : Essays on Hunger 2015 selected work essay -
Review : Small Acts of Disappearance
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 19 September 2015;
— Review of Small Acts of Disappearance : Essays on Hunger 2015 selected work essay -
The Fleshy Side of the Mind
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , November 2015;
— Review of Small Acts of Disappearance : Essays on Hunger 2015 selected work essay -
Walled Alive
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , January-February no. 378 2016; (p. 65)
— Review of Small Acts of Disappearance : Essays on Hunger 2015 selected work essay -
Three Generations of Sydney Women Finalists for the 2016 Kibble Literary Award
2016
single work
column
— Appears in: Brisbane Times , 7 June 2016; 'Three generations of Sydney women are represented on the shortlist for the $30,000 Kibble Literary Award for women's life writing. ...' -
Fiona Wright Wins $30,000 Kibble Prize for Essay Collection on Anorexia
2016
single work
column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 14 July 2016; 'The acclaimed writer, critic and poet Fiona Wright has won the prestigious Kibble award for Australian women writers, taking $30,000 for Small Acts of Disappearance, a collection of essays about anorexia. ...' -
Fiona Wright's Small Acts of Disappearance Has a Big Win at the Kibble Award
2016
single work
— Appears in: Brisbane Times , 14 July 2016; 'Sydney poet and essayist Fiona Wright has won the $30,000 Kibble Literary Award for women's life writing. In her book, Small Acts of Disappearance, Wright examines her own anorexia and the significance of hunger in a slender collection of essays that are both intimate and intellectual, frank and filled with poetic observations. ...' -
An Audience with Poet and Author Fiona Wright
2016
single work
interview
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 12 November 2016; -
The Stella Interview : Fiona Wright
2018
single work
interview
— Appears in: The Stella Interviews 2018;'Fiona Wright is shortlisted for the 2016 Stella Prize for her collection of essays, Small Acts of Disappearance: Essays on Hunger. We spoke to Fiona about writing fellowships, her favourite cafés and the people who inspire and influence her.' (Introduction)
Awards
- 2016 winner Kibble Literary Awards — Nita Kibble Literary Award
- 2016 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction
- 2016 shortlisted The Stella Prize
- 2016 winner Queensland Literary Awards — Non-Fiction Book Award
- 2015 shortlisted Victorian Premier's Literary Awards — Award for Non-Fiction