AustLit
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
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)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Adele Dumont Reviews A Kind of Magic by Anna Spargo-Ryan
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Mascara Literary Review , no. 29 2023;
— Review of A Kind of Magic 2022 single work autobiography'From its outset, A Kind of Magic establishes two distinct kinds of language. There’s Spargo-Ryan’s narration, as she recounts meeting with her new therapist: this voice is warm and confiding. The language she employs is vibrant and all her own: she likens her anxiety, for example, to ‘being trapped in jelly and also being allergic to jelly’(6). It’s laden with humour and irony, too: the narrator worries that the thongs she’s worn to the appointment are going to make a bad impression, and what’s more, their slapping sound might disturb the ‘sick people’ in the medical centre; the ‘patients with actual problems’(4). Within this same opening chapter, we’re introduced to a medical lexicon, which Spargo-Ryan informs us she’s become well-versed in: ‘I feel dissociated, I have intrusive thoughts’(6). These two sorts of language indicate two spheres of knowledge: the first, clinical and official; the second, intimate and embodied. The therapist’s PhD in clinical psychology is displayed on the wall; she is a ‘specialist in anxiety and psychosis’(4). But Spargo-Ryan tells us she is ‘also a specialist’ in these conditions, ‘but in the other way, where sometimes they try to kill me’(4).' (Introduction)
-
Readers Are Hungry for Stories about Trauma. But What Happens to the Authors?
2022
single work
column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 19 November 2022; -
Living with Complex Illness and Surviving to Tell about It : Anna Spargo-Ryan’s Chronic Optimism
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 31 October 2022;
— Review of A Kind of Magic 2022 single work autobiography'Anna Spargo-Ryan has been managing multiple mental health conditions since childhood, a lifetime of surviving an unwell brain. A recent diagnosis of ADHD, however, comes with fresh (though not unexpected) anguish.' (Introduction)
-
Anna Spargo-Ryan A Kind of Magic : A Memoir about Anxiety, Our Minds, and Optimism in Spite of It All
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 8-14 October 2022;
— Review of A Kind of Magic 2022 single work autobiography'An astounding fact: some who witnessed firsthand the infamous killing fields of Pol Pot’s regime in Cambodia went blind afterwards. Their eyes could still “see” in a physical sense – their optic nerve remained undamaged. They just couldn’t admit the horrors they had seen.' (Introduction)
-
‘Funny’, ‘Punchy, ‘A Gorgeous Writer’ : the Best Australian Books Out in October
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 4 October 2022;
— Review of Seeing Other People 2022 single work novel ; Tripping Over Myself : A Memoir of a Life in Comedy 2022 single work autobiography ; Limberlost 2022 single work novel ; Faith, Hope and Carnage 2022 single work autobiography interview ; A Kind of Magic 2022 single work autobiography ; The Sun Walks Down 2022 single work novel
-
‘Funny’, ‘Punchy, ‘A Gorgeous Writer’ : the Best Australian Books Out in October
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 4 October 2022;
— Review of Seeing Other People 2022 single work novel ; Tripping Over Myself : A Memoir of a Life in Comedy 2022 single work autobiography ; Limberlost 2022 single work novel ; Faith, Hope and Carnage 2022 single work autobiography interview ; A Kind of Magic 2022 single work autobiography ; The Sun Walks Down 2022 single work novel -
Anna Spargo-Ryan A Kind of Magic : A Memoir about Anxiety, Our Minds, and Optimism in Spite of It All
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 8-14 October 2022;
— Review of A Kind of Magic 2022 single work autobiography'An astounding fact: some who witnessed firsthand the infamous killing fields of Pol Pot’s regime in Cambodia went blind afterwards. Their eyes could still “see” in a physical sense – their optic nerve remained undamaged. They just couldn’t admit the horrors they had seen.' (Introduction)
-
Living with Complex Illness and Surviving to Tell about It : Anna Spargo-Ryan’s Chronic Optimism
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 31 October 2022;
— Review of A Kind of Magic 2022 single work autobiography'Anna Spargo-Ryan has been managing multiple mental health conditions since childhood, a lifetime of surviving an unwell brain. A recent diagnosis of ADHD, however, comes with fresh (though not unexpected) anguish.' (Introduction)
-
Adele Dumont Reviews A Kind of Magic by Anna Spargo-Ryan
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Mascara Literary Review , no. 29 2023;
— Review of A Kind of Magic 2022 single work autobiography'From its outset, A Kind of Magic establishes two distinct kinds of language. There’s Spargo-Ryan’s narration, as she recounts meeting with her new therapist: this voice is warm and confiding. The language she employs is vibrant and all her own: she likens her anxiety, for example, to ‘being trapped in jelly and also being allergic to jelly’(6). It’s laden with humour and irony, too: the narrator worries that the thongs she’s worn to the appointment are going to make a bad impression, and what’s more, their slapping sound might disturb the ‘sick people’ in the medical centre; the ‘patients with actual problems’(4). Within this same opening chapter, we’re introduced to a medical lexicon, which Spargo-Ryan informs us she’s become well-versed in: ‘I feel dissociated, I have intrusive thoughts’(6). These two sorts of language indicate two spheres of knowledge: the first, clinical and official; the second, intimate and embodied. The therapist’s PhD in clinical psychology is displayed on the wall; she is a ‘specialist in anxiety and psychosis’(4). But Spargo-Ryan tells us she is ‘also a specialist’ in these conditions, ‘but in the other way, where sometimes they try to kill me’(4).' (Introduction)
-
Readers Are Hungry for Stories about Trauma. But What Happens to the Authors?
2022
single work
column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 19 November 2022;
Awards
- 2023 shortlisted Queensland Literary Awards — Non-Fiction Book Award
- 2023 longlisted APA Book Design Awards — Best Designed Non Fiction Book designed by Alissa Dinallo.