Heat and Light by Ellen van Neerven

JUDGES' COMMENTS

Realism, Aboriginal knowledge and allegory all operate in Heat and Light as pathways to a deeper understanding of the self and how that self negotiates a sense of belonging to family, community and nation. Through a tripartite structure, Ellen van Neerven’s short story collection moves backwards and forwards in time, weaving family histories with contemporary identity politics and a dystopian futuristic scenario.

There is an energy about these stories that is driven not only by the gutsy, gay, Aboriginal narrator who reappears in various guises throughout the collection, but also from the vitality of van Neerven’s prose. She is not afraid to take risks — in style and subject matter — and in her assured hands they pay off. This collection is most aptly named: in reading we experience the heat generated by stories of sexual transgression, illicit desire, domestic violence, mental illness, racism and dispossession, and the light that illuminates a varied range of narrative perspectives, building to a powerful and disturbing finale.