one story a day
(2022)
Genevieve Callaghan
on nmp.13:
english, softcover
244 pages, 108 x 178 mm
third edition
no more poetry presents one story a day, the the debut anthology by writer Genevieve Callaghan.
"…Il était une fois… an Australian woman had an idea on the plane to France. The idea was quite simple - she would write one very short story every day, and post it on Instagram. Posting the stories online would keep her accountable to any potential followers, but handwriting the stories in her often illegible script would keep her from pandering to those followers - keep her storytelling pure. Honest. Her handwriting was like her speaking voice, or her language, or her mind - some people would understand it, some people wouldn’t. C’est la vie. Aside from the artistic and practical benefits the woman thought she might gain from embarking on the project, the deeper benefit (she hoped) would be a personal one."
“the woman”
reflects on one story a day.
What we have been given by Genevieve Callaghan in one story a day is an unwavering mastery of time and craft. The book offers a generous mapping of the author’s spontaneity in speculation and narrative. What we receive is therefore not just a collection of stories, questions and ponderings, but an illuminating insight into the operation of ritual and persistence. We are given an inspiring perspective on the craft of craft itself; the honed, daily practice of observation and imagination.
Sure, a day presents us with a near endless expanse of possibilities, but these possibilities are often so tightly wound within the expectations of work, time, care and place that we fail to see or act in accordance to our infinite potential. Which is to say life gets in the way. But what Callaghan reminds us is of the limitlessness of poetry and art; the expansive opportunity and delight of our own minds and how we may use this to remind ourselves of our own and other’s immeasurable potential. Or perhaps how we may use writing or art to operate on our own grief, pain, confusion or indecision. The writing is therefore both grounding and inspiring, in her own words as Callaghan states in story 28 she is ‘humming something holy to remind us where we are’.
We follow the author in her survey of all things: unwavering grief, striking humour, bountiful love, paralysing normality, professional explorations of intimacy, musical perchance, unbridled joy, lengthy pain, spiritual mundanity, quiet indulgence, failing memory, potent magic, elongated heartbreak, blind risk, chaotic bus rides, uncontrollable loss, supreme silence, unexpected fantasy, and nothing… sometimes nothing at all. We follow the author as she explores the whirlwind navigation of life through the eyes of children, construction workers, jasmine vines, pigeons, lovers, diplomats, cities, spiders, monuments, nurses, jacaranda trees, oceans, and even the humble ponderings of a concrete block. Callaghan throws us briefly but surely between time and desire. Her writing is specific and generous, at once both simple and elaborate.
one story a day delicately strings together the disparate and unifying elements of human and non-human existence; the broad mechanics of life itself. Further, through tenderness, wit and striking nuance Callaghan so gently monitors and magnifies the delightful and alluring specificities that colour such existence. As she states in story 381 ‘I eyed the world, daring it to say one fucking thing.’
Callaghan states in story 167 ‘i realise that the same things can happen anywhere’. And so here in this book we are given a few things that happen in a few places to a few people, and what a glorious few it is. no more poetry are incredibly excited to publish what will be our 13th collection and one of the most enriching and unique books to date. We are extremely grateful to Genevieve for trusting our home to let it land in.
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