We are excited to share the news with you Light and Shadow anthology (ISBN 978-06455231-6-4) is launched and is on sale now at the Minds Shine Bright Bookshop or your favourite bookshop.
On Saturday we celebrated the launch of Light and Shadow, Minds Shine Bright, International Creative Writing Anthology, Seasons 2, 2025 in St Kilda, the home of Minds Shine Bright and the location of our stunning cover. The Launch was held at the Bowlo (St Kilda Sports Club), a welcoming venue which we all enjoyed.
Amanda Scotney, Founder of Minds Shine Bright (that’s me) opened the Light and Shadow Book Launch with the following remarks.
Crime writers and main stream media love to tell stories of drugs, murder and prostition, homelessness and hopelessness here but to me St Kilda is a place of community, a place that I Iove. It is vibrant, creative and embraces diversity, equality and the arts in all of their forms.
We celebrated with storytelling and poetry readings by some of the 43 winning and commended writers published in Light and Shadow, a few words from poet and Light and Shadow judge Jennifer Harrison, a chat with Isi Unikowski, overall competition winner, (the first poet to win an MSB competition) and interview with our special guest Schizy Inc CEO Heidi Everett, video readings from some of our international and interstate writers and an open mic session too.
Light and Shadow is the second book in the Minds Shine Bright Seasons Series following the beautiful blue book Storm, with artwork by Mike Barr.
The black and white photo on the cover of Light and Shadow was taken by me looking through the window of a shop onto busy St Kilda Road. The shop was closing down after many years. You can see the reflection of newer buildings from across the road and an old BOXING DAY SALE sign resting on the floor in the corner. The font layout and book design by Caren Florence (Ampersand Duck) has created a book and a cover that I absolutely love and I hope that for some of you this book will find a treasured spot on your bookshelf.
Light and Shadow is a book that is sublimely dark and light with moments of illumination. Everyday life is shown to be complex and beautiful, with touching, dangerous and fragile moments. By examining darkness, shadows and all the variations of light that created both the seen world and our inner selves we can learn, reflect, endure, survive, grieve and experience moments of inspiration or transcendence.
We look forward to sharing these contemporary stories and poems about light and shadow with you.
Melbourne poet Jennifer Harrison talked about the judging process for judging the Light and Shadow writing competition. She read all of the almost 500 entries twice and the longlisted and shortlisted works many more times. Jennifer’s advice was that if you are putting your work out there, no matter how you went keep going. It doesn’t mean that your work isn’t good. Sometimes there may be two or three pieces that are very similar and only one is selected for the next stage. Jennifer and I had many in depth discussions about the longlisted and shortlisted before final selections were made.
Canberran poet Isi Unikowski, who won first prize in the Light and Shadow writing competition attended the Light and Shadow Book Launch in Melbourne to celebrate with us. Before he read his inspirational winning poem Bright Square of Morning we chatted about how he finds his rhythm and voice when writing poems like Bright Square of Morning and the power of a poem in today’s world. Some highlights of our chat will be available on the Minds Shine Bright Youtube page soon.
Eight writers joined us to read live extracts of their stories and poems. Poppy White, who is currently completing her debut novel read from ‘The Shallows’ a short story about Jo a diver who discovers lost memories as he struggles with the swell and his memory. Leone Gabrielle read ‘Clear Water, a unique and beautiful poem with a strong connection to the land. Keren Heenan moved us with her story ‘The Colour of Air’ about a young dying boy, his wisdom and his shifting perceptions of the world. Angela Costi’s reading of ‘Medicinal’, a response to Mary Oliver’s poetry swept traditionally hidden child abuse and violence in the family home out from under the carpet—and finds solace in poetry. Tim Loveday’s reading of ‘in the bar my mum used to work’ was very engaging and a little wry, transporting us back in time to the close atmosphere of a busy pub. Veronica Troup took us northside with her reading of ‘Outfoxing Merri Creek’ a poem that cycles us past the town hall, the local, and bats in the night sky with a sensible dose of fear on the way home and Alexandra O’Sullivan took us all out for a Ladies Day at the races with her short story ‘All the Pretty Birds’. The readings left everyone wanting more. You can find out more about the Light and Shadow writers in the bio section of Light and Shadow
This year we were delighted to welcome Heidi Everett, CEO of Schizy Inc, as our special guest for the Light and Shadow Book Launch. Heidi talked about how she started up Schizy Inc in 2008 to create spaces for creative people with lived experience of complex and diverse mental health that respected and empowered them. Schizy Inc work with and empowers artists, comedians, musicians and writers to create engaging events like the annual Mojo Festival. The philosophy is that the art spaces and gatherings are not just therapy or for socialisation but for building creative practice.
Heidi also talked about Glimmer. Schizy Inc’s first community anthology. Glimmer is a beautiful collection of stories, poems, flash fiction and scripts by writers with lived experience of complex and diverse mental health that was created by a collaboration between Minds Shine Bright and Schizy Inc. You can order a copy of Glimmer by contacting studio@schizy.org subject line Glimmer. Glimmer has a special connection with Light and Shadow anthology as it has its own Light and Shadow themed chapter.
Video readings are are a great way to showcase the work of interstate and international writers to a live audience. For the Launch the readings of ten writers was organised into four sets which aligned to chapters in Light and Shadow.
The first set included three readings from the Top Eleven pieces. Poet Suzanna Fitzpatrick from Orpington, England read The Shed, a moving poem about Marie Curie at work. Edie Redwine, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who was awarded third prize, read an extract of Roots, a harsh and haunting contemporary story with a strong connection to the land and it’s spirits and Glyn Matthews from Congleton Cheshire painted a desolate Turneresque landscape in words through they eyes of a young man.
Other notable works in the Top Eleven mentioned by Jennifer in her talk on the judging process include Cash Only by Gayle Beveridge from Wonthaggi, Victoria a story about a man who leaves home in the middle of the night unable to pay the rent and Just Black by Lans Felby from Clare Vaalley, South Australia which examines the perception of black from the point of view of a blind person.
The second set explored light and shadow by moonlight. Helen Booth, from Anglesea Victoria, winner of our 2024 Confidence writing competition read an extract from The Brightest Star a beautiful story about love, photography and heading out in the middle of night to get that perfect shot of the stars. Poet Ez Knill from the Lefevre Peninsula, South Australia captivated us with Monnlight/starlight and Alice Gorman from Adelaide, South Australia caught our attention and took us to the moon with an extract from her short story. Lavatime is told from the point of view of a female scientist living on the moon, working and observing the lunar landscape, in the not too distant future.
The third set explored light and shadow through pleasure and pain. Owen Dwyer from Dublin Ireland read from his short story The Christmas Party about the encounter of a young Irishman, in England at Christmas time, with a junky in a squat. Paul Trewitt from Karama, Northern Territory, who was awarded fourth place read Sltither of Light a poem that tackles the difficult but important topic of child abuse through a young boy’s fear of the dark and a troll. Pat Abraham read from Cut from the Same Cloth a story about a young doctor on a country placement who runs ‘something’ over and on a lighter not poet G.M. Monks reading of Ghengis Khan takes us walking with a swarm of gnats.
The fourth set explored light and shadow from dawn until dusk. Poet Gabi Cadenhead fom New South Wales read her beautiful poem ‘Sky’, Suzanna Fitpatrick from the UK read ‘Bushfires’ written for her cousins in Beechworth Victoria, and the talented story teller Chelinay Gates ( winner of the Minds Shine Bright Storm writing competition) moved and entertained us all with her reading of Yanggarda Yanggarda, Long, Long Time Ago a story about the land, ancestors, babies, love, loss and new life.
Isi, Poppy and Veronica read from their body of work and they were joined by Tony, Ana, Theresa, Denise, Leone and Lucy who all signed up and read at the open mic session. I joined in and read my Now poem from Miscellaneous Voices anthology. The open mic session was a safe place for people to share their stories and poems with an appreciative audience.
The Light and Shadow Book Launch pictures were taken by photographer Jenny Rico who capture the spirit of the day so well. (Link name to Insta
Special Thanks to the staff at the St Kilda Sports Club for your assistance in creating a very special day of celebration.
Tony, Theresa, Leone and my daughter Olivia for your assistance on the day
Caren for your layout and design skills which brought Light and Shadow to life.
Isi, Jennifer and Heidi for your wise words and inspiration on the day
To all the writers who read live and on video and to readers who registered for the open mic and shared your stories and poems.
Every Light and Shadow anthology is a community and if you are reading this post you are part of that community. Let’s spread the word so these stories and poems, the writers and poets and the beautiful cover of Light and Shadow is talked about in coffee shops and on podcasts and sought out in bookshops and libraries.
The ISBN for Light and Shadow is 978- 06455231-2-6 and our distributor is Ingram who print Minds Shine Bright Books in the US, the UK and Australia and ship to most places. You can buy a print copy in the Minds Shine Bright bookshop and the e-book is being developed.
We need your book reviews too so more readers can discover these forty three writers and poets and their interpretations of light and shadow. If you are interested in being an advanced copy reader for future Minds Shine Bright anthologies please get in touch.
Over the next few weeks we will be sending author’s copies of Light and Shadow, certificates and Gifts of Recognition. Then we will be heading on the road to promote Light and Shadow anthology.
I’m delighted to announce that we will be running a Writing Light and Shadow— with Moments of Illumination Writing Workshop at Daylesford’s Words in Winter Festival on Saturday 23rd August from 3:30- 5:00pm at Radius Arts Space, Hepburn Springs. Some of our writers will be joining us to read. You can get your tickets here. Come for the weekend and enjoy the Festival.
In September we are returning to Bendigo to present a short form fiction writing workshop at the Bendigo Library with the Bendigo Writers Council.
We will also be preparing the Places entries for judging and we will be running a very special art competition for young illustrators to find a cover and some illustrations for the Young Writers Places anthology.
The Light and Shadow Book Launch by Minds Shine Bright was a wonderful celebration and we look forward to holding more events in the future. Thank you for sharing in our celebrations.
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