I was very pleased to recently have been asked to contribute to a WA anthology of short memoirs. The first collection of its kind in Australia, Ourselves: 100 Micro Memoirs aims to invite the reader into the histories we often edit—or don’t tell—about ourselves.

Published by Night Parrot Press with funding from the WA Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries this book includes 100 micro memoirs, each 750 words or less, all from WA writers.

Author and journalist Kate Emery shone a lovely and generous spotlight on the book recently in The Sunday Times, calling the collection a ‘a high note’ for WA culture and writing, and good news worth celebrating.

My micro memoir is called ‘The Mustard Pot’ and is about a funny lop-sided mustard pot that my Mum bought me from the Provencal markets and that we used for years and years at our home in France. Here is a brief excerpt:

“One day I dropped it and it shattered into hundreds of pieces. Even though it was only a piece of pottery it brought back so many memories of my mum who passed away from cancer ten years ago. The shattered pieces seem to reflect my loss more deeply. I kept telling myself it didn’t matter, it was only an old mustard pot, just a thing that I could easily replace, but this tangible little pot was much more than that…“

To purchase the book go to Night Parrot Press, or check out your favourite independent bookshop.