Meet me at the intersection: Short stories edited by Rebecca Lim and Ambelin Kwaymullina

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Fremantle Press, 2018. ISBN 9781925591705
(Age: 14+) Recommended. Themes: LGBTIQA+. Disabilities. Indigenous Australians. Cultures. Short stories. Meet me at the intersection is an collection of short stories by authors who write from the heart about issues that have personal meaning to them. These authors include those with a disability, are LGBTIQA+ or are Indigenous and are passionate about sharing their stories written from their point of view.
At the beginning of each story is a blurb about the author and the inspiration for their story, which is fantastic as it gives the reader an insight to how and why the author came to write this particular piece.
My favourite of the short stories was 'Harry Potter and the Disappearing Pages' by Olivia Muscat because of the Harry Potter connection. The author says right from the beginning that the character in the story is her and this connection seemed to personalise it for me.
Many of the stories are raw and brutally honest. There is no filter to what is written and they say exactly what they think. Sometimes this can be confronting but mostly you appreciate the honesty and frankness of the story. With some of the stories, I wondered what the point was but in hindsight, the point is really a snippet of a story that is waiting to be told.
The stories are quite diverse and it is refreshing to change pace at the beginning of each new story. The stories are not long and at times, they leave you wishing for more. Some are revelations and others make you think about topics not normally spoken about.
I would recommend this book to 14+ readers whose interest is in diversity amongst our population.
Gerri Mills

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