“Ashmere’s prose is precise, almost elusive, reading at times like poetry.” Books+Publishing

Emma Ashmere’s short story collection DREAMS THEY FORGOT follows her debut novel THE FLOATING GARDEN, shortlisted Small Press Network Book of the Year.

She/her. Born in Tarntanya/Adelaide on Kaurna land in South Australia, she now lives on unceded Bundjalung Country in northern New South Wales and respectfully pays tribute to elders and traditional owners past and present.

Her writing has been widely published including in: The Age, Meanjin, Overland, Griffith Review, Short Australian Stories, NGVmagazine, Commonwealth Writers magazine adda, and Meniscus. Competitions include: winner joanne burns Microlit Award 2024; Pacific regional finalist Commonwealth Short Story Prize, finalist Furphy Literary Award 2024, Newcastle Short Story, NUW/Overland Fair Australia Prize, Hush Kindness in Healthcare Writing Prize and the Carmel Bird Digital Literary Award. Recipient: Varuna Roderick Centre Fellowship and Varuna Online Writers Space. Forthcoming: short story in Island online.

For a wandering decade Emma worked as a cook on Adelaide film sets, an isolated cattle station, Sydney cafés, London pubs, and an art school in the South of France. While studying for an MA at the University of Adelaide and a PhD at La Trobe University she worked in the arts, universities, and as a researcher on several history books.

 

 BOOKS

DREAMS THEY FORGOT (2020)

DREAMS THEY FORGOT  is published by Emma’s new publisher Wakefield Press – and is on the Sydney Morning Herald’s Books to Read in 2020 and Readings Bookshop’s Books to Get Excited About and 100 Great Reads by Australian Women 2020.

“This debut collection of beautiful short stories spans twenty years of the author’s writing life, bringing together tales of love, loss and feeling out of place.” Readings

Praise for DREAMS THEY FORGOT

“Luminescent.”  ANNA SPARGO-RYAN, author of A Kind of Magic, The Gulf, The Paper House.

“An absolute pleasure.” JENNIFER MILLS, author of The Airways, Dyschronia, The Rest is Weight, The Diamond Anchor.

“Deeply engaging and satisfying.” PADDY O’REILLY, author of Other Houses, Peripheral Vision, The End of the World, The Wonders.

“A strong and varied collection.” SYDNEY MORNING HERALD/AGE.

“A thoughtful meditation on the things that can hold you down, and the different ways through.” THE SATURDAY PAPER.

“Richly nuanced fabric of story, character, and pinpoints of life experience.” AUSTRALIAN BOOK REVIEW.                                                             

  More reviews of Dreams They Forgot here

 

  

THE FLOATING GARDEN (2015)

Shortlisted Small Press Network Book of the Year

Praise for THE FLOATING GARDEN

“…a beautiful meditation on grief, guilt, and regret, set against the backdrop of Milsons Point, Sydney, 1926.” JUDGES’ REPORT 2016 Small Press Network Book of the Year prize.

“…evocatively portrays both the difficulties and the sense of promise in the post-war era….” ⋆⋆⋆⋆ (four stars) BOOKS+PUBLISHING

“…beautifully detailed… finely crafted…an elegy for the forgotten….a subversive counter-history to the tumult of rapid progress.” SYDNEY MORNING HERALD/AGE

More reviews of The Floating Garden

Hear an interview with KATE EVANS about The Floating Garden Radio National’s Books & Arts. 

Follow Emma Ashmere on Instagram 

 Copyright Emma Ashmere © 2015 ____________________________________________________________________