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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'A biting collection of stories from a bold new voice. A young girl sees ghosts from her third eye, located where her belly button should be. A corporate lawyer feels increasingly disconnected from his job in a soulless 1200-storey skyscraper. And a one-dimensional yellow man steps out from a cinema screen in the hope of leading a three-dimensional life, but everyone around him is fixated only on the color of his skin. Welcome to Portable Curiosities. In these dark and often fantastical stories, Julie Koh combines absurd humour with searing critiques on modern society, proving herself to be one of Australia's most original and daring young writers.' (Publication summary)
Notes
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Dedication: For my parents and sister, patrons of this dark art.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Sound recording.
Works about this Work
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What I Wish I’d Known About: Studying Creative Writing
2022
single work
essay
— Appears in: Kill Your Darlings [Online] , June 2022; -
Identity Is Cruel : Capital, Gimmick and Surveillance in the Australian Postdiasporic Short Story
2021
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Humanities Review , November no. 69 2021; 'If we were to take recent controversies in the Australian literary scene as an indication of its current priorities, we would—at least on one pronounced level—encounter what can be generally called an ethics of inclusivity for diasporic writers. Regardless of the degrees of sophistication of these debates, their participants appeal to the primacy of diasporic identity—its sheer visibility—as a necessary part of the constitution and imaginary of contemporary literature vis-à-vis the nation’s demographic composition. This call for equity of representation is frequently paired with an emphasis on the labour of diasporic writers in surmounting obstacles for publishing narratives about multicultural life, and the structural biases of literary institutions, cultural awards and (white) critics against diasporic writing. The shared assumption here is that there exists an overlap of inequalities between social and literary worlds. What often remains a moot question is the extent to which disseminating diasporic representation is aligned with models of consumption prediction that are predicated on a direct relationship between institutionally fashionable terms such as diversity and inclusion, and maximising business performance schemes. As Sara Ahmed has observed, diversity is associated with conditions of work which are already promoted by organisations. ‘The story of diversity’, she writes, ‘thus becomes a story of diversity’s inclusion into the terms of an institution’ (9).'(Introduction)
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What Should Politicians Be Reading at Parliamentary Book Club? Our Experts Make Their Picks
2019
single work
column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 21 August 2019; -
Julie Koh
2019
single work
interview
— Appears in: Liminal , July 2019; -
Julie Koh Portable Curiosities. Reviewed by Ashley Kalagian Blunt
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , August 2017;'Portable Curiosities portrays a world of comic misery and brightly coloured heartache.'
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Review : Portable Curiosities
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Good Reading , July 2016; (p. 34)
— Review of Portable Curiosities 2016 selected work short story -
Review: 'Portable Curiosities' by Julie Koh
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , August no. 383 2016; (p. 44)
— Review of Portable Curiosities 2016 selected work short story -
August in Fiction
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Overland [Online] , August 2016;
— Review of Portable Curiosities 2016 selected work short story ; Salt Creek 2015 single work novel ; Dodge Rose 2015 single work novel -
The Bleeding Edge : New Short Fiction
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , October 2016;
— Review of After the Carnage 2016 selected work short story ; Peripheral Vision 2015 selected work short story ; Portable Curiosities 2016 selected work short story -
Stacey Trick Reviews Portable Curiosities by Julie Koh
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: Mascara Literary Review , April no. 20 2017;
— Review of Portable Curiosities 2016 selected work short story 'The short story form, historically, has been regarded as a literary art form in its own right that often creatively explores the zeitgeist of a particular time and the psyche of the human condition. Throughout history, celebrated writers have often influenced a fixed supposition in their reader’s imaginations. When we think of Ernest Hemingway, the trials and tribulations of being a poor writer and expatriate during war times particularly in Paris comes to the forefront of our minds. To think of Arthur Conan Doyle evokes, at once, impressions of Sherlock Holmes solving mysteries in the bustling streets of London during the Victorian and Edwardian periods, between about 1880 to 1914. And certainly, when Edgar Allan Poe comes to mind, impressions of macabre and mystery influenced by the darkest corners of the human psyche are often explored in the most extreme and grisly circumstances.' (Introduction) -
A Feast of Bite-Sized Gems
2016
single work
column
— Appears in: The West Australian , 19 October 2016; (p. 18) -
Julie Koh Portable Curiosities. Reviewed by Ashley Kalagian Blunt
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , August 2017;'Portable Curiosities portrays a world of comic misery and brightly coloured heartache.'
-
Julie Koh
2019
single work
interview
— Appears in: Liminal , July 2019; -
What Should Politicians Be Reading at Parliamentary Book Club? Our Experts Make Their Picks
2019
single work
column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 21 August 2019; -
What I’m Reading—
2016
single work
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2016;
Awards
- 2018 finalist Norma K. Hemming Award — Long Work
- 2017 joint winner The Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelist of the Year
- 2017 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing
- 2016 shortlisted Readings Prizes — Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction
- 2016 shortlisted Queensland Literary Awards — University of Southern Queensland Australian Short Story Collection – Steele Rudd Award