Fremantle Press has brought together a wide range of acclaimed and up-and-coming writers for their new short story collection inspired by songs of Kylie Minogue.
The collection which is edited by Kristien Krauth and Angela Savage is the latest in an ongoing series where the work of a particular musical artists is using as the jumping off point for a varied collection of short stories.
Previous editions have used Paul Kelly and Nick Cave as their starting point, but this collection is on the Kylie line stopping all station from Locomotion to Padam Padam.
Often the best way to read collections like this is little but little, with each story comes a new author, a new voice and a new style. It’s the perfect kind of book to pick up over breakfast each morning, and read a tale over cornflakes, or dive into late at night.
The writer’s assembled for this collection, like the previous editions in the series, is impressive. There are well-known names like Alice Pung, Holden Sheppard, Christos Tsiolkas and Ellen van Neerven.
There are offerings from new voices like Grace Chan, whose brilliant play The Complete A-Z of Missing Persons Australia was recently staged by the WA Youth Theatre Company. Andrea Thompson, whose debut novel Geraldine comes out in 2025 is also included.
Nick Gadd goes for an obscure Kylie track for his contribution. German Bold Italic, is a collaboration between Kylie and Japanese musician Towa Tei. It’s not a creative piece, but rather an essay that explore the disposable nature of both pop music and typefaces, while asking if this collaboration between the Australian singer and the Japanese artist who started off in New York band Dee-lite should be given more credit for Kylie’s mid-90’s creative reinvention.
Andrea Thompson’s piece Can’t Get You Out of My Head is loaded with local nostalgia with parts set in long-gone Perth’s venues. Adam Ouston imagines the recording sessions of Especially for You and questions the songs banal lyrics.
Angela Savage creates a story of reinvention and risk taking between a schoolteacher and a hitchhiker, Alive Pung brings a tale of karaoke wars, and Chris Flynn uses Padam Padam for a tale set in the Antarctic. There’s a mesmerising poem from Alice van Neerven that will have you spinning around.
Dive in and sample many different voices, tales and adventures.
