Writer • Novelist • Poet • Reviewer • Arts Journalist • Editor • Essayist
Almost a Mirror
‘Top 20 Australian Books of 2020’
– The Guardian
Shortlisted
2021 SPN Book of the Year Award
Penguin Literary Prize
just_a_girl
A Puberty Blues for the digital age
Lolita with a webcam
Almost a Mirror
The pop world of Coundown collides with post-punk scene of the Crystal Ballroom
13-part series
Each episode sparked by a 70s/80s song. Nick the Stripper. (I’m) Stranded.
Featuring
Mick Harvey (The Birthday Party), Chris Bailey & Ed Kuepper (The Saints)
Profiles
Rachel Griffiths, Ben Folds, Sian Clifford
Paul McDermott, Sarah Sentilles
Reviews
Music, photography, books, film & TV
Fleabag, Aha!, Wolfe Creek, Bill Henson
Features
Nick Cave & the $10,000 Suit
Laurie Anderson, St Kilda Music Scene
Literary Magazines
Managing Editor
Newswrite, Australian Author
Copywriter
Blogs, brochures, annual reports
Social media, magazine articles
Editing
Manuscript assessment, fiction, memoir
Structural, copy, publishing advice
Freelance Arts Journalist, Essayist, Reviewer, Profiles – The Saturday Paper, Overland, SMH, The Age, The Australian
Almost a Mirror
Top 20 Australian books of 2020 – The Guardian
Shortlisted 2021 SPN Book of the Year Award & Penguin Literary Prize
What we make of memories and what they make of us. Like fireflies to the light, Mona, Benny and Jimmy are drawn into the elegantly wasted orbit of the Crystal Ballroom and the post-punk scene of 80s Melbourne, a world that includes Nick Cave and Dodge, a photographer pushing his art to the edge. With precision and richness Kirsten Krauth hauntingly evokes the power of music to infuse our lives, while diving deep into loss, beauty, innocence and agency. Almost a Mirror reflects on the healing power of creativity and the everyday sacredness of family and friendship in the face of unexpected tragedy.
just_a_girl
A wholly original book’ – The Age
‘Alive with ideas about isolation and connection in the digital age’ – Australian
Layla is only 14. She cruises online. She catches trains to meet strangers. Her mother, Margot, never suspects. Even when Layla brings a man into their home. Margot’s caught in her own web: an evangelical church and a charismatic pastor. Meanwhile, downtown, a man opens a suitcase and tenderly places his young lover inside. just_a_girl tears into the fabric of contemporary culture. A Puberty Blues for the digital age, a Lolita with a webcam, it’s what happens when young girls are forced to grow up too fast. Or never get the chance to grow up at all.