Hellai Gul

Reviewed: Plastic Budgie, Olivia De Zilva, Pink Shorts Press The debut offering from Olivia De Zilva is a bildungsroman that sits somewhere between autobiography and fiction—a fragmented, although chronological, account of a young girl’s (also named Olivia) becoming. Plastic Budgie is sectioned into three parts: ‘The Past’, ‘The Present’, and ‘The Ammonite’. As the book traces Olivia’s memories, she grapples with the present and ultimately reaches an epiphany.

Reviewed: I Ate the Whole World to Find You, Rachel Ang, Scribe Through hallucinatory and often eccentric fragments, the stories in Rachel Ang’s debut graphic collection traverse moments in the life of its main protagonist, Jenny,  a young woman living in contemporary Melbourne. Although we only get snippets into Jenny’s life, the stories together create remarkable characterisation, letting readers into a rich interior world. Jenny’s fixations overlap throughout all the stories.