Else

Else tells the story of Leisl and her daughter, Else, who share a language of scientific facts and poetic echoes. When they leave the city for a family home on a distant peninsula, they must navigate a climate of floods, shifting seasons, and of fragile belongings.

Blurring the boundaries between poetry and fiction, Else is a generational saga, a speculative meditation on relationships with self, environment, and history, and an ode to beloved Eastern Kulin Country.

• “Meticulously crafted and extremely inventive … timely and prescient.” – James Bradley

• “A testament to beloved Eastern Kulin Country. A generational saga of settlement, and an embrace of the myriad forms taken by knowledge.” – Bonny Cassidy

• “A singular work deeply corned with relationships, those we have with ourselves, our environment, and our pasts.” – Romy Ash

Rose Michael is a writer, editor, and academic based in Naarm/Melbourne. She is the author of two novels: The Asking Game (runner-up for the Vogel Award, honourable mention in Aurealis) and The Art of Navigation. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in Island, Griffith Review, Best Australian Stories, Meanjin, Antipodes, Science Write Now and more. Rose also teaches Creative Writing at RMIT, where she mentors the next generation of writers.

Briohny Doyle is the author of Why We Are Here, Echolalia, Adult Fantasy and The Island Will Sink. Her books have been recognised on lists for The Miles Franklin Literary Award, the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards and The Melbourne Prize for Literature. Her shorter writing has appeared in the Monthly, the Guardian, Meanjin, Griffith Review, and the New York Times. She is a former Fulbright Scholar.