Gentle And Fierce

New collection of essays on the relationships between humans and animals, by Vanessa Berry, author of Mirror Sydney, and the memoir of adolescence Ninety9. Gentle and Fierce focuses on the world of animals, and the way their presence has shaped the author’s attitudes and her sense of self. Having spent her life in city environments, Vanessa Berry’s experiences with animals have largely been through encounters with urban creatures, representations of animals in art and the media, and as decorative ornaments or kitsch. The essays suggest that these mediated encounters, rather than being mundane or removed from nature, provide meaningful connections with the animal world, at a time in which it is threatened by climate change and environmental destruction. The subjects of Berry’s singular bestiary include butterflies, a glass fish, a stuffed Kodiak bear, the rabbits on a Japanese island, the sinking horse from The NeverEnding Story, snails and flies, a porcelain otter, Lassie, dream spiders and cats, and wallabies on the Isle of Man. Berry responds to each with the attentiveness and empathy that is the hallmark of her writing. The essays are accompanied by illustrations that testify to her background as an artist and zine maker. 'Sydney writer and artist Vanessa Berry recalls the cinematic moment that imprinted itself on the collective memory of her generation in Gentle and Fierce, a meditative book of essays — also illustrated by Berry — that explores the many ways animals have shaped the author’s identity and the course of her life...Gentle and Fierce is an unusual and empathetic book that should appeal to fans of personal essayists such as Fiona Wright and Jessica Friedmann.' — Carody Culver, Books+Publishing

This picture book tells of a young girl's love for the forest and its creatures, and the power she finds there.

Beloved of readers and booksellers, our Fierce Reads program has garnered tons of enthusiastic fans since its inauguration in 2012. Now, the authors you know and love are coming together in one book! With standalone short stories from a handpicked set of FR authors, this fabulous collection will often feature characters or worlds from existing Fierce Reads titles. Extended, personal introductions from each author will make this a must-buy for fans as well as a fantastic portal for engaging new readers with the program. With a wide range of genres and subject matter, there will be something here for everyone!

Throughdelicately wrought essays and hand-drawn illustrated maps, Mirror Sydney chartsan alternative view of the harbour city, to show a place of suburban mysteries,hidden stories, and anachronistic sites. Vanessa Berry, one of Australia's mostacute observers of the urban landscape, casts an attentive eye upon overlooked,odd, and seemingly mundane places, tracing their connections and theirsignificance to the city as a whole. As developmentshadows every aspect of the city's life, Mirror Sydney documents, in avery personal way, the fast-vanishing traces of the recent past, finding newmeaning in minor landmarks and uncelebrated sites. From abandoned amusementparks to mysterious traffic islands; from the railway lost-property office tothe elephant buried in Sydney Park; and from the eccentric murals of theDomain's underground walkway to the remnants of the ill-fated monorail, Berry'scurious gaze discovers an alternative and eccentric, little-known city. Berry's writingbalances the low-key iconoclasm of the punk and indie music scenes with the philosophicalurban investigations of Walter Benjamin and Robert Walser. Her unique style of mapillustration was developed through many years making zines and artworks, collagingdetailed line drawings with text from typewriters and Letraset.

From the discomfort of my own home I buy dresses, look up recipes, do online surveys. In Nostalgia Has Ruined My Life, an unnamed young woman in her late twenties navigates unemployment, boredom, chronic illness and online dating. Her activities are banal -- applying for jobs, looking up horoscopes, managing depression, going on Tinder dates. 'I want to tell someone I love them but there is no one to tell,' she says. 'Except my sister maybe. I want to pick blackberries on a farm and then die.' She observes the ambiguities of social interactions, the absurd intimacies of sex and the indignity of everyday events, with a skepticism about the possibility of genuine emotion, or enlightenment. Like life, things are just unfolding, and sometimes, like life, they don't actually get better. Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle's novella-in-fragments blends artifice with sincerity, is darkly funny, and alive to the incongruous performance that constitutes getting by. 'Written in a fragmentary form reminiscent of Renata Adler, Nostalgia Has Ruined My Life, Zarah Butcher-McCunningle's deadpan fiction debut, documents an unnamed young protagonist's listless existence in an unnamed city. The book's droll dispatches from daily life under late capitalism recall the writing of the author's New Zealand contemporaries Hera Lindsay Bird and Eamonn Marra, but Butcher-McCunnigle's distinctive voice is her own... Nostalgia Has Ruined My Life is a grimly funny rendering of the absurdity of life in the 2020s--an era in which, with nowhere to turn, the hopeless millennial turns in on herself.' -- Kelsey Oldham, Books+Publishing Praise for Autobiography of a Marguerite: 'Workbook for surviving illness, guide to familial dysfunction and an intersection between fact and fiction...one of the most innovative New Zealand books published in recent years.' -- Booknotes 'Books of the Year' 'The writing goes to the aching heart of disconnection and of longing for repair...Butcher-McGunnigle has created a crooked beauty out of shards.' -- takahē magazine

Mother Truths is a beautiful, funny, and raw collection of poetry about early motherhood. The perfect gift for expectant mothers and new mums.

The author of Self-Compassion follows up her groundbreaking book with new ideas that expand our notion of self-kindness and its capacity to transform our lives, showing women how to balance tender self-acceptance with fierce action to claim their power and change the world. Kristin Neff changed how we talk about self-care with her enormously popular first book, Self-Compassion. Now, ten years and many studies later, she expands her body of work to explore a brand-new take on self-compassion. Although kindness and self-acceptance allow us to be with ourselves as we are, in all our glorious imperfection, the desire to alleviate suffering at the heart of this mindset isn't always gentle, sometimes it's fierce. We must also act courageously in order to protect ourselves from harm and injustice, say no to others so we can meet our own needs, and motivate necessary change in ourselves and society. Gender roles demand that women be soft and nurturing, not angry or powerful. But like yin and yang, the energies of fierce and tender self-compassion must be balanced for wholeness and wellbeing. Drawing on a wealth of research, her personal life story and empirically supported practices, Neff demonstrates how women can use fierce and tender self-compassion to succeed in the workplace, engage in caregiving without burning out, be authentic in relationships, and end the silence around sexual harassment and abuse. Most women intuitively recognize fierceness as part of their true nature, but have been discouraged from developing it. Women must reclaim their power in order to create a healthier society and find lasting happiness. In this wise, caring, and enlightening book, Neff shows women how to reclaim balance within themselves, so they can help restore balance in the world.