Vision Australia ID 0:02
This is a Vision Australia Radio podcast.
Frances Keyland 0:13
Hello and welcome to hear this. I'm Frances Keyland, and you're listening to the Vision Australia Library show, where we talk about books in the Vision Australia collection. We have samples of books, we have reader feedback. It's also about newspapers and magazines. The Vision Australia Library is a free library service for anybody who has a print disability, and I'll have the ways that you can contact the library to find out more at the end of the show.
And this week's show does focus very much on fiction - in particular, micro-fiction. What is micro-fiction? Well, Vision Australia Radio partnered up with the Brimbank Writers' and Readers Festival, and we're going to have a good sample of some micro-fiction winners from the Brimbank community. So I do hope you enjoy the show and get a little bit of inspiration out of it, as well for your own writing.
Brimbank Writers' and Readers Festival is here - a fantastic celebration of writing, reading and community, whether you're an avid reader, a budding writer, or simply love the art of storytelling, this event is for you for three years running, Vision Australia Radio has been proud to support the festival, helping connect our listeners and Vision Australia clients in Melbourne's west to a week of festivities with events that are usually free for audiences to enjoy on the ground and online.
So today, we're shifting our focus to their annual micro-fiction competition, which was promoted across the Brimbank community, as well as extensively across Vision Australia Radio Network, earlier on in the year and today, we're going to hear from the event organisers. So there's award winning author T R Napper, known for his work in Australian science fiction, who judged this year's entries, along with the stories submitted by the top three entrants for both the youth and adult fiction categories. Vision Australia radio presenter Jason will interview the two winners of this year's competition.
So to get things started, let's hear from Jason, who speaks to Scott from Brimbank Libraries.
Jason 2:15
And I'm joined by Scott Steensma, who is involved in the Brimbank Writers' and Readers' Festival in which we are a media partner. Hi, Scott.
Scott 2:23
Hello Jase. Thank you so much for having me on the program.
Jason 2:25
How long has the Brimbank Writers' and Readers' Festivalbeen running?
Scott 2:28
Well, we've been running for 20 years. Initially we started it because we wanted to bring writers to brinbank, and then we realised we could actually showcase community talent, stories and writers from the west. And from there, it's grown into a festival for everyone. So the festival makes a big effort to get behind local writers, and we've given a number of local writers their first chance to appear at a festival and to make connections with local readers. It's also given large numbers of people the chance to learn about writing, publishing, music, production, cooking.
Jason 2:58
What are the main differences for the Brimbank Writers' and Readers' Festival compared to other writing festivals? There are a lot out there.
Scott 3:03
Well, our main difference is that ours is not just about writers, it's also about readers. But we wanted to include people in the community beyond writers, which is what a lot of festivals focus on, very successfully. But we specifically have readers in the festival title to remind us that they're important and to keep their needs in mind when we're planning the program.
Jason 3:21
Fantastic. So what can people expect from the 2025 festival?
Scott 3:24
Some big names in Australian music. We have some amazing workshops on writing, writing for performance and for spoken word. And we have events around cooking and cookbooks. We have local authors workshops on using ebooks. And we even have some interstate guests as well. Everyone will be moving west.
Jason 3:39
Scott, please do, you're... they're more than welcome. Accessibility is an important part of any community events. What work has been going in to ensure that the 2025 festival is accessible to the blind and low vision community, but also those with other diverse disabilities, such as mobility restrictions and the deaf community, for example?
Scott 3:57
So we, yeah, we have a big focus on that last year, we had six of our events with Auslan interpreters. We have hearing loops in many of our venues, and our buildings are all accessible. We also have, thanks to Vision Australia Radio and yourself, Jase, we're about to have an audio program and brochure this year, and we also have Bindi Maps for our Sunshine Library events.
Jason 4:18
Well, last year, Vision Australia Radio presented a panel discussion on alternative formats for reading as part of the festival, but we're shifting our focus a little bit to a writing competition this time around.
Scott 4:28
Yeah, absolutely. I've been involved with micro-fiction competitions here at broom bank for a while, and they're a great deal of fun. We're very excited to be running one, partnering with you in the festival stories of up to 200 words. So that's micro-fiction. Usually it's pretty small, 100 words, 200 words, that kind of thing inspired by the phrase Nobody chooses for us. We have two categories for writers between 10 to 17 years and 18 years plus. Across the two categories, there's $1,000 in book voucher prizes.
We have a lot of people enter who've never entered competitions before. Books never been published. We're reading the stories without reference to the name of the author as well, so somebody who's publishing background or history has no relevance. Some of the best stories we've had are from unpublished writers and first time writers as well. T R Napper - I've read a few of his books, and they're just fantastic - is judging the stories this year. He's won armloads of awards around Australia in speculative fiction for his novels and his short stories.
He's also... has a doctorate, an actual PhD, in Cyberpunk. I think he's one of the few Doctors of Cyberpunk in Australia, and he has a background in international aid, and he currently works running arts therapy programs for people with disabilities. So he's a very multi-talented man.
Jason 5:38
Well, we have any listeners from as far west as per to as far east as Albury. Will these Vision Australia Radio listeners be able to take part in the festival? Are there online sessions?
Scott 5:49
Yes. So we have several online sessions. We've got events running with authors from around Australia, and some of these will be run online for anyone to attend virtually. I'll just put a placeholder in your calendar for the entire month of March and be prepared... I'd say yes, there's a lot on and we have a fair bit of seating for the in person events, but it's best to get an early in book if you can.
Jason 6:08
And finally, how do we keep tabs on the 2025 Brimbank Writers' and Readers' Festival purchasing tickets and the likes?
Scott 6:15
So you could just keep an eye on the Brimbank Council website.
Jason 6:18
We'll also be updating things through Vision Australia Radio here. Thanks Scott for joining us today. We're really looking forward to being part of the Brimbank Writers' and Readers' Festival again in 2025.
Scott 6:28
Thanks, Jase.
Frances Keyland 6:29
You're listening to Hear This with Francis Keyland, and we'll now hear from the year's micro-fiction competition judge with his perspective on the 2025 entrants.
T.R. Napper 6:39
Gidday. I'm TR Napper, an award-winning author of both short and long fiction. It was a genuine honour to judge the 2025 brim bank microfiction competition. Writing is hard in any form. The novel is diabolical. The short story and exercise in flawless craft, and the 200 word micro-fiction story is utterly exacting so few words to create a moment emotional resonance and the sense of a larger story, a very hard task for all the participants.
The youth short list was a very difficult category to come to a decision on. All entries were excellent, though, in particular, I thought Reflections by Jane Miao and The Midnight Tide by Alexia Scipias were standouts. In the end, however, I chose Joel Pulakau's story, No-one Chooses For Us. Joel uses some powerful imagery to create emotional heft for the adult category, the standard of entries was very high. Pin Drop by Tao Killian Trin had a quiet beauty and Barely a Choice by Melissa Kim was evocative.
Ultimately, though the clear winner for me was Home is Elsewhere, by Kathy Lar. This is a powerful piece that engaged the senses and the emotions and even managed to convey the feeling of a story told despite the severe limit on words, Kathy opens with the line, The girl was born under a napalm sky. Just excellent. So congratulations to Kathy and to Joel, but also to all the other shortlisted entries for their fine work. I hope all of the authors involved continue to put themselves out there on the page and thank you now with thanks to Brimbank library staff, we share both the third and second runners up in the youth category of this year's micro fiction competition.
Alex
Hey. This is Alex from Brimbank Libraries reading Alexia Scipias's story, The Midnight Tide, which placed third in our adult youth micro-fiction competition in this year's Brimbank Readers' and Writers' Festival, The Midnight Tide by Alexia Scipias.
8:47
Layla knew this was a bad idea, and yet she found herself drifting further and further into the ocean, lured in by the push and pull of the waves and the tranquility of the night. She shouldn't have listened to her friend Amy begging her to come deep down, she knew it was a horrible idea, and yet here she was. Layla got more resentful with each step she took, the ocean's pull was guiding them closer and closer. She looked around, taking in the peaceful state of the ocean.
But something had changed. The science was almost eerie. The waves gained an unexpected strength. Suddenly, the push and pull was no longer playful, but now rough. Suddenly, a wave crashed upon them, knocking them over. She turned to Amy, but she had disappeared. Her heart raced. She then noticed how deep they were in the dark ocean. As seconds went by, the waves got more aggressive, pushing her back and forward. A feeling of regret took over Layla. That's when she realised this was her choice. Nobody chooses for us, and now she had to find a way to get out alive.
Laura 9:49
Hello. This is Laura from Greenbank Libraries reading Jane Myers' story Reflections, which placed second in our youth micro-fiction competition in this year's Brimbank Writers' and Readers' Festival. Reflections...
Nostalgia was like walking in those footprints one had made earlier, their feet perfectly aligning with those former footsteps. That emotion was not quite the word to describe May's reaction when she found her old photo board. It was a flimsy piece of cardboard, its edges fraying from elderliness. Seven long years have passed since the first photo may seeming unfazed by her oversized blazer was ready to take on high school, from making friends to graduation, looking at those photos was like whispering to her younger self, a smile emerged, remembering the peak of her life, her romanticism savored every moment, but it all came down to the same thing, how she wanted to relieve those years, but she could not.
There was time that forbade going back at the top, but it was not haughty. Time was the pressure that pushed Mae to remember those days, steering her back on track. Yet maid held dearly her life drooping into a pit. Time whispered, leaving the present little girl. No one could choose the future. No one could choose the past. The most that one could do was to keep the memory, not keep going back.
unknown speaker 11:24
So we heard from the two runners up for the youth category. Congratulations to both of them, and now here's Jason, who is speaking to this year's winner, Joel.
Jason 11:33
Thanks so much for chatting with us today on Vision Australia Radio. Huge congratulations on winning the youth category at the Brimbank Writers' and Readers' Festival micro-fiction competition. How does it feel to have won?
Joel 11:44
Thank you so much. Actually feels amazing. I wasn't expecting the win, because I was actually at school and I received the email, and yeah, I was actually very shocked, but like, in the best way possible, I haven't won many things in my life.
Jason 11:56
Joel, I think when I was in grade four, I guess the right amount of jelly babies in the jar, and I was pretty impressed with myself, so I think you've trumped this one.
Joel 12:04
Yeah? Well, writing was, like, something like, I really enjoy it. It's sort of been like an escape for me. So like, having my work recognised was, like, really encouraging. So yeah, it does feel really great. So wow, that's really good to know.
Jason 12:16
So do you live in the Brimbank area, and has winning the competition made you feel more connected to that community?
Joel 12:22
Yeah, I do live in the Brimbank era. I live around Sydenham near the library, and yeah, it's definitely made me feel so connected, and it made me realise how how many creative opportunities there are in like, the community. Writing feels like a personal thing for me, but like when it's shared with everyone, everyone can understand how we feel, and it's like, really special with me.
Jason 12:43
So in through your writing, you're giving a little bit of insight into the real you.
Joel 12:48
Exactly. Yeah.
Jason 12:49
So how often do you write? And is this story one of the many you've written?
Joel 12:54
I write every so often, and sometimes when I'm alone, I'd write like, small journal entries or poems, and I'd be in like, a random place, and like, suddenly, like the words just like, come to me - I'd look at, like, maybe an object, and I don't know some somehow, like the words just come to me, and I'll be pulling out my phone and just typing them into my notes so, like, I can come up with something later.
Jason 13:16
This is a little bit of a side question that I didn't give you up front, so bear with me. You've got me thinking... I mean, with social media, the way it is today, and that everyone wants an answer for things quickly and things are short and snappy, how do you give yourself that little bit of like headspace to be able to go or I'm not going to get too caught up in this all the time. I'm going to go over this way and, you know, and really jot down some really more detailed thoughts that you might be able to revert back to later?
Joel 13:41
I mean, sometimes I I catch myself getting, like, really caught up in like, technology and stuff, and sometimes I just have to, like, pause and be like, Oh, maybe I should stop and do something else for a little bit maybe think about what I'm actually gonna write, because sometimes it can get really distracting.
Jason 13:57
Okay, well, you had just 200 words to work with for the competition. Did that make it hard to write your story?
Joel 14:04
It was really difficult, and, like, every word had to count, so I had to cut out anything unnecessary. It made my story a lot more stronger, because it forced me to, like, focus on everything that really mattered.
Jason 14:14
Amazing. Well, the theme of the competition was, No-one Chooses For Us. How did that idea inspire you, and what is your story about?
Joel 14:22
So this story was deeply personal for me, and I often struggle with anxiety, and writing helps me, like, process my emotions and thoughts and the no one chooses for us reflects like exactly that like so exploring the feeling of being trapped and wanting to take control of like, my own path, what I wanted to do was, like, not only connect with others who had, like, a similar experience, but like, also show that, like, this kind of feeling, something so powerful and so emotional and like, very important to address within, like, our community.
Jason 14:53
Would you like to share the story with us and our listeners now?
Joel 14:56
Yeah, absolutely. I'd love to please.
Jason 14:58
All right, the floor's yours. I'm gonna Zoom it, OK?
Joel 15:00
My story is called Ropes...
I feel my arms tugging at my insides like ropes pulling me in every direction. My body is being reshaped, my skin's stretching, my brain's cracking. I spent years running from moments like this. The ropes twist tighter, fusing with my flesh, becoming a part of me. The more I struggle, the worse it gets. Then suddenly everything stops. Silence presses against me, heavy and thick, I hear something whispers, not words, yet, just the hum. The wind, once cold, now caresses me, soft and gentle. I try to move, but the ropes are no longer ropes. They're melted into me.
My body trembles as I touch the threads woven into my skin, foreign, unwanted. The Whispers grow clearer. Choose, I don't know how to choose. My body shifts, contorts and aches like it's being remade from the inside out. Choose, I don't know how to choose! I scream... and everything falls silent in the stillness, I feel it a pulse beneath my feet, deep in the earth, echoing through me. I step forward, the ground solid and familiar. The wind surrounds me, guiding me. The ropes are a part of me. Now I don't know where I'm going, but the first time I realise I make my own choices, and no-one chooses for us.
Jason 15:00
That was absolutely fantastic. Well done. What a story. And I didn't ask you, how long did it take you to craft that one?
Joel 16:30
I actually saw the competition on my school's notice board, so I thought I'd give it a try. And actually, it took me a long time to just like kind of shift that into something I could talk about in, like a story.
Jason 16:44
I mean, you've executed it brilliantly. I can see you put in a good amount of time there. So thank you so much for sharing that story. Congratulations once again on the win. You know, expecting big things to come out of Brimbank again. What's next for you? Are you working on anything else at the moment?
Joel 16:59
I've got, like, a couple ideas on my notes. Obviously, I'd love to continue writing more personal stories, like my story ropes, so I feel like I'd be able to connect with an audience correctly. If like, I write something that's like, not only interesting, but it has to feel like real. I feel like that's something that it's... not very hard to do. It's... just, you have to connect with people in a way that only you can. Yeah, I think that's why my story can really resonate with people. So yeah, I'd love to keep exploring the themes of like, identity and choices and struggles that like come with them.
Jason 17:35
Yeah? Well, thank you so much for sharing your story today. Thank you for being a part of the competition and for sharing, you know, a really personal element of yourself. I think the more that we talk about anxiety and depression, the more that the community feels a little bit of comfort and realises that there are others out there experiencing similar things. Joel, thank you so much.
Joel 17:55
Yeah, thank you for having me.
Danny 18:01
Hello. This is Danny from Brimbank libraries, reading Melissa Kim Lam's story, Barely a Choice, which placed third in our adult micro fiction competition in this year's Brimbank Writers' and Readers' Festival. Barely a Choice by Melissa Kim Lam...
I was gone when you woke. How long ago? How many worlds ago? I do not know out here, time slips through my fingers like a living, writhing thing. My reflection, I no longer recognize, but your face remains as I remember it. I see it amongst meteors, alien ships, glorious worlds. When you were born, I'd marveled at the weight of your presence, the love you brought out of me, all that warmth in such a small, delicate body. I'm an old woman now put to work as intended, although they haven't been entirely unkind, but if I become but a carapace for them, have every other decision made for me lose myself in the Endless Pool of worlds.
At least I still have this, know that I look for you. It is barely a choice to rebel against them. For what choice do I have? It's an old mother's instinct, if you will. It became a part of me when I first held you, and if you ever received this? No, I never stopped looking. There is an unfathomable number of worlds out here, but I will always find the one with you in it. Love, always, Mum.
Scott 19:35
Hello. This is Scott from Brimbank Libraries, reading Tower Q and Trin's Pin Drop, which placed second at our adult micro function competition in this year's Brimbank Writers' and Readers' Festival. So Pin Drop by Tower Q and Trin...
You are drenched in seas of uncertainty. Your lips form familiar words mouth shapes and printed to memory like a scribe to a scroll, and they mold the terms empty. Lost, confused. You're idly skimming your foot over the water's surface, hesitant to dip more than just your toes. Your mind wanders absently, unwelcome thoughts perforating through your self proclaimed impenetrable walls, settling down, nestling inside, establishing a home amongst chaos. You've been submerged before reaching the top. You've never remembered it. Mind astray, slamming against the surface before fear freezes you ice cold.
You're often led astray, sinking deeper as you lose air, your eyes glazing over, your consciousness fades before you the pungent taste of sea salt losing intensity the longer you remain encumbered before you can process the colors you sense a rubber band snapping an elastic stretching yet maintaining its shape, your hand was raised in a fist despite the chains you secured to your limbs, flurries of people who chant song lyrics in a haggard rasp pulsing flat palms over your chest. No-one chooses for us, not even yourself, whose body clings on to life despite the resolution you whispered into the mirror every intention to never return.
Unknown speaker
And there were two runners up for the adult category of microfiction, and we have Jason here talking with the winner of this year's competition, including a reading of their work.
Jason 21:21
Kathy, thanks for joining us on Vision Australia Radio, and congratulations on winning the 18 plus category at the Brimbank Writers' and Readers' Festival micro-fiction competition. Were you expecting this outcome?
Kathy 21:31
Hi, Jason. Thank you so much for having me. And I was very surprised. And I felt especially honoured because when I was told that I had won first prize for this category, I'd also been told that there had been a really high volume of entries, so I'm just really pleased to know that the judge and the library staff enjoyed reading my piece.
Jason 21:51
Oh, that's fantastic. So is writing a hobby for you, or do you write professionally?
Kathy 21:56
For me, it's both. I'm currently working casually as a journalist for a news channel based in Melton, and that will go live soon, and some of my articles will be published. Writing has mostly been a hobby for me. I've always enjoyed reading, and naturally, I've just been fascinated by the craft of storytelling. I do a lot of journalling, and I also enjoy writing short stories in my own time.
Jason 22:19
Okay, so I'm guessing that desire to arrive was just the motivation you needed to enter the competition.
Kathy 22:24
I love entering running competitions. I've actually entered several before, and I'm always on the lookout for opportunities like these. I just think that they're a really great way to challenge yourself and to have your work judged by someone who has found success in the industry.
Jason 22:40
Kathy, do you live in the Brimbank area?
Kathy 22:42
I currently live in the City of Melton, but I grew up in Brimbank, so I was born there. Yeah, I went to school there, and I still have a very deep connection to the area.
Jason 22:52
So who are the authors or writers that inspire you? What is it about their writing that resonates with you?
Kathy 22:57
There are a number of authors that have inspired me in different ways. A couple of notable mentions would have to be George Orwell, who is best known for Animal Farm and 1984 and Margaret Atwood, who wrote The Handmaid's Tale. These authors made me realise just how powerful literature can be, because they wrote on some themes that were kind of controversial and confronting. And as much as I believe that reading fiction provides enjoyment, I also believe in the place that literature has in our society to bring up ideas that make us think, to reflect on what kind of world we're living in.
Jason 23:33
Well, with only 200 words to work with, how did that challenge you as a writer?
Kathy 23:38
Yeah, so I don't really write microfiction or flash fiction match. So it's not a form that I'm used to. And when I was writing this piece for the competition, I found myself being, you know, particularly concise and deliberate with my choice of wording and being mindful of that 200 word limit. I found that I was being, you know, very drawn to using more evocative and poetic language to try and portray the environment and the mental state that my characters were in.
Jason 24:05
Yeah, right. And the theme for the competition was No-one chooses for us. How did this idea inspire your story? And what is it about?
Kathy 24:12
I found this theme quite fascinating, and it's very open to interpretation. But at the crux of it, I think that it's about facing something that is out of your control, and everyone has experienced that in some way. So both of my parents were refugees. They have lived through some really difficult times, and that was the main source of inspiration for my story. So it's essentially about a mother and her young daughter who are leaving war-torn Vietnam and they are searching for a new country.
It explores the themes of war and home and of attachment, so we can be physically close in proximity to someone or something and yet feel distant and in the same way, we can be far away from something and still feel a closeness to it.
Jason 24:58
Would you like to read it for us now?
Kathy 25:00
[?] Yes, I would love to. so this is my story, Home is Elsewhere...
The girl was born under a napalm sky, tinged with the smell of smoke and destruction. Saigon fell before she even got to know it, before she could read it with fully formed words. The Emerald lands that her mother had learned to love and toil in were on fire. So it was that the woman, clutching her baby, stepped onto a decrepit fishing boat packed like a can of sardines. The woman tried to welcome the salty and metallic scent of the boat as she rocked inside it, the war had ended, which is to say that the guns and bombs had been laid to rest.
The woman was learning, though, that a war never really ends. Memories remain like shrapnel in the mind, for better or for worse. When they came to the new country, the woman was constantly searching. She searched for bread, for comfort. The girl curled up against her mother. Her small ear pressed against the bosom, listened as if eavesdropping behind a closed door. What stirred inside her mother was unfamiliar to her innocent, unlearned ear, a rearranging of syntax, a fear of the unknown, a longing for home, wherever that was.
Jason 26:12
That is fantastic. I see real value in someone like you writing this story because I guess, from my perspective, it's written about a generation of people that don't necessarily share those stories, and in particular, for the western suburbs of Melbourne, so many of our stories are from Vietnamese refugees from that period of time, and they're just left widely untold, right?
Kathy 26:31
Yes, exactly. And I think it's particularly significant this year, because it's said that 50 years ago was the fall of Saigon. Over the past five decades, we've seen a lot of Vietnamese refugees and immigrants move to Australia and yeah, in particular, in the western suburbs, we do have quite a strong community of Vietnamese migrants. So I think it's really important that we share those stories also overcome those cultural and language barriers that come with storytelling.
Jason 27:00
Before we go, I'd like to ask you if you're working on anything else in the way of short stories?
Kathy 27:05
Yeah, I definitely intend on writing more short stories and entering more competitions, but I'm also working on a slightly bigger project, so I've started writing a draft for a novel, and that'll touch on similar themes to the story that I just read out.
Jason 27:21
Kathy, thanks so much for your time today.
Kathy 27:22
Thank you so much, Jason. It was a pleasure.
Frances Keyland 27:24
A big congratulations to this year's winners and runners up at the Brimbank Writers' and Readers' Festival micro-fiction competition. We're excited to share that the 2026 competition will be open earlier this will give Vision Australia Library users, radio listeners and members of the Brimbank community more time to get their entries through before the Christmas break. So keep listening to Hear This for more on next year's competition, and don't forget to visit brimbanklibraries.vic.gov.au ... that's Brimbank libraries. I'll spell it [spells] ... for more on this year's free events that are happening. Thank you for joining us on Hear This today for this very special show. Thank you to the Brimbank Writers' and Readers' Festival for allowing us to showcase your wonderful, talented winners of the micro-fiction competition.
Our library, Vision Australia Library, is a free library service for anyone with print disability. So we have narrated books, we have e-texts, we have Braille, and there's over 50,000 titles in the audio collection. And there's also languages other than English, like Greek books or Vietnamese books, a great variety of community languages. If you would like to find out more, you can call the library on 1300 654 656... that's one, 3 hundred, 654 656. Or you can email library@visionaustralia.org - that's library at Vision Australia dot org. The library team welcome any sorts of inquiries, and they can set you up with how to join the library.
So this is a free service for anybody with a print disability, and that includes blindness and low vision. It includes motor neuron conditions that affect your ability to focus your eyes or turn pages or hold a book with ease, it can be due to acquired brain injury, and there's also perceptual disabilities such as dyslexia. So if you're wondering about the Vision Australia Library and whether it would suit you, please give them a call, and they will explain anything about the library that you need to know. Have a lovely week, and we'll be back next week with more Hear This.
Vision Australia ID 29:48
Thanks for listening to this Vision Australia radio podcast. Don't forget to subscribe on your preferred podcast platform. Visit varadio.org for more. Vision Australia Radio... blindness, low vision, opportunity.
