Memoria

My parents were part of a friendship group and all the offspring would flit between each others houses, backyards and the neighbourhood largely unsupervised. 'Burn' is about the beginning of the end of innocence and friendship. Emily Anderson is a writer, editor and lawyer from Melbourne, Australia. She was recently published in Visible Ink's annual anthology and you can find her at emilyanderson.com.au Acknowledgements: Memoria is written,  produced, edited and presented by Natalie V. Burn is written and read by Emily Anderson.  The story is sound edited by Jen Farrow. Music in this episode is by Blue Dot Sessions,   When in the West, The Envelope and Sage the Hunter. Illustrations by Peta Manning. Her book, See Me Doodle, is out now.Support the show.

Official definition: a false belief of a person that he or she is impoverished or will be deprived of material possessions. *A warning. This episode is about suicide and may not be suitable for everyone. Please use discretion. Poverty Delusion by Nicolas Brasch Sometimes you learn about things when you least expect to - and when you don't want to. Have you ever heard of poverty delusion? It's an official psychiatric condition. I hadn't heard of it until ... I wish I'd never heard of it. I hadn't heard of it until ... my sister had it. Until she took her life. Nicolas is a writer, a teacher of writing, Chair of Writers Victoria, and the founder and host of Spirit of Punk, an open mic event for emerging writers. You can find Nicolas on his website and Instagram. Acknowledgements: Memoria is written,  produced, edited and presented by Natalie V. Poverty Delusion is written and read by Nicolas Brasch. The story is sound edited by Jen Farrow. Music in this episode is by Blue Dot Sessions,   "Pat

We’d been planning it for days, loitering at the drinking trough beside the tuck shop window. Leigh distracted him. I snuck up from behind. What a rush! How funny was that? It was 1963—a time when funny was defined by the Three Stooges. The Cream Bun by Roy Mears Few moments from your childhood live on. Memories are often suppressed. Yet, a smell, a sound, can immediately transport you back, to relive what you felt at the time. Mostly not by choice, you’re called to this memory for a reason. This season’s theme led me to explore suppressed memories and led to surprising discoveries about who I am. Writer, reader, teacher and coach, Roy Mears was, for several years, author of The Week That Was for The Climate Project. He has been published in PEN Quarterly and Melbourne Observer. You can find Roy on Twitter and Instagram. Acknowledgements: Memoria is written,  produced, edited and presented by Natalie V. The Cream Bun is written and read by Roy Mears. The story is sound edited by

Writer Interview Rijn Collins This bonus episode is an interview Nat V had with Rijn Collins about her writing process. The interview was recorded in 2018. Rijn has two stories featured in season two of our podcast: The Eyes of the Bird and Rapunzel, Rapunzel.    Episode edited by Nat V. Music in this episode by the Blue Dot Sessions. Special thanks to our Patrons for their support. You can become a Patron for as little as $1 per month! See our Patreon website for more details.Support the show.

Writer Interview Ash Rehn This bonus episode is an interview Nat V had with Ash Rehn about his writing process. The interview was recorded in late 2018. Ash's #flashnonfiction story, Something Beginning With Chaos is our last episode for season two.   Episode edited by Nat V. Music in this episode by the Blue Dot Sessions. Special thanks to our Patrons for their support. You can become a Patron for as little as $1 per month! See our Patreon website for more details. podcoinSupport the show.

Writer Interview Aprill Allen This bonus episode is an interview Nat V had with Aprill Allen about her writing process. The interview was recorded in early 2018. Aprill's #flashnonfiction story, The Sacrament, featured in episode 1 of our second season. Episode edited by Nat V. Music in this episode by the Blue Dot Sessions. Special thanks to our Patrons for their support. You can become a Patron for as little as $1 per month! See our Patreon website for more details.Support the show.

Writer Interview Annie Drum This bonus episode is an interview Nat V had with Annie Drum about her writing process. The interview was recorded in November 2017. Annie's #flashnonfiction story, Tattooed Mother, featured in episode 16 of our first season. Since then, Annie has been on a writing retreat in Amsterdam and is currently being mentored by Toni Jordan to expand her novella into a novel. Episode edited by Nat V. Music in this episode by the Blue Dot Sessions. Special thanks to our Patrons for their support. You can become a Patron for as little as $1 per month! See our Patreon website for more details.Support the show.

Mum’s driving the station wagon, Jenny, Jack and Grace in the back. Butch and Becky in the footwells grizzling. Esky, bags, towels, birdcage. The back-back is full. Suitcases on the roof rack. Butch looks guilty. ‘Mum, Butch farted.’ Something Beginning With Chaos by Ash Rehn Our family holidays were predictable yet anxiety-ridden occasions, drama always within striking distance. With dogs, kids and my parents own baggage packed tightly together, hurtling down the highway, something had to go wrong. It's only now looking back can I see the humour of my childhood. Ash was grazed in Brisbane and almost destroyed on the Gold Coast. Now he writes ficto-memoir as self-therapy. He publishes on Patreon and on his website. Something Beginning with Chaos is read by Glen Morrow. Glen is a voice-over artist and host of the podcast, Stories Of You. Acknowledgements: Memoria is written,  produced, edited and presented by Nat V. Ash Rehn's short story, Something Beginning With Chaos,

I touched his face, his hair. His body. Cold. Hard. His face had no lines. It’s been said, the worry lines leave you instantly upon death. Will I lose my creased brow, I thought. Redemption by Lyn Mitchell Reflections in old age can grab your mind and transport you in fractions of time. Moments in our unique journeys are like flag posts in a desert of inconsequential living. A word, a smell, a piece of music. Redemption was always waiting to be written, to be purged. Dad’s death mask was always in my mind’s eye. It never left me. I tried to paint out the memory but it was in a tute at Uni, a trigger was set up and I could expel what had been festering inside. Understanding, without forgiving, never forgetting, but finally being able to accept being born was to be regaled, and thankful that the sins of the father are not visited upon the sons or daughters. We can learn from before, and we can set a different path. Lyn never felt educated. She left school in 1961 at year 10 level and fleeing

Jesus wept, the saying goes, and there he was, on his crucifix, laid out on the unceremonious bench, cast rigid into a plaster block, laid to waste on the Swanston Street spine. Forsaken by Anna Sublet To see a crucifix, abandoned at a tram stop, spoke to me of false hopes, salvation, loss and delusion. Who knows when or if they will be saved? And who, if anyone, will be their saviour? I watched a couple wrestle with their mess at that tram stop, testing the gristle and tendons of their connection. They were bound together, yet I could sense her straining at the edges. Her tattoo of a square within a square spoke to me of their enclosure, and the sense of inevitability about her journey felt like a heavy weight. And so, the crucifix lay abandoned. And we are forsaken. Anna Sublet is a freelance writer.  Her personal essays have been published in The Guardian. Her latest piece for Fairfax Media was about suburban surfers, and their search for waves. You can find her on Twitter, and Facebo

There is no photographic evidence of us together; you didn’t bother with the father-daughter bonding this time. You didn’t stay in my life long enough to form any type of bond. Our family of four (soon to be five, with Mum heavily pregnant) shared the winter of 1965. And then you were gone. And Then You Were Gone by Simone Bowers Whoever said that all children need a mother and a father has never suffered parental rejection. It's not until we sit down to write about an event in our past that the truth comes hurtling at us from out of nowhere. That's what happened when I decided to write about the day my father came to visit. I was five. Simone Bowers decided to pursue her love of words at the age of 52 and has just completed a two-year writing course. She describes herself as an unpublished 'emerging writer'. And Then You Were Gone is read by Petra Glieson.   Acknowledgements: Memoria is written,  produced, edited and presented by Nat V. Simone Bower's short story, And Then Y

*The episode comes with a warning. Violence is portrayed in this story. Discretion is advised.   Before I had been imprisoned, I never thought of the physical and psychological effects of constant hunger. Some prisoners talked about what food they missed, and how it tasted. Prisoners reminisced about food. One Woman's Struggle in Iran by Nazrin Parvaz I couldn't separate Iran from the rest of the world. We all are in the same boat that is running fast with the current towards a future full of more misery unless we do something about it. In Iran, the same as in the rest of the world - we need a just system that safeguards freedom and equality. Nasrin Parvaz became a civil rights activist when the Islamic regime took power in 1979. She was arrested in 1982 and spent eight years in prison.  You can find Nasrin on her website,  Twitter. Her novel, The Secret Letters from X to A is available here.  Acknowledgements: Memoria is written,  produced, edited and presented by Nat V.

everyone’s teeth are broken but people keep chewing rocks. everyone’s stomachs are empty but people keep drinking gasoline.   Boy in a Closed Mill Town by Zackary Lavoie Rural Maine was once a hotbed for Mill Towns. Entire communities were built around mills, offering a promise of wealth and stability. Unfortunately, most of these mills were eventually closed and torn down, leaving the towns once centred around them helpless. Many families felt the destructive impact of the closings. Poverty, drug addiction, depression, and many, many other difficult scenarios soon followed. This poem explores the impact on the relationship between a father and son in a closed mill town. Zack Lavoie graduated from the University of Maine at Farmington and is the author of the chapbook UPHEAVALS (Pond Bench Press). He was awarded the 2017 Alice James Books Director's Chair Fellowship in Farmington, Maine and is the winner of the Franklin & Somerset County Poetry Competition.  works as an EFL editor

Alcohol is not a necessity when travelling…but it does help. It helps when the cold is so fierce your phone screen cracks. It helps when your housemates visit the local fish factory and realise, too late, that the stench of fish guts stays embedded in clothes for days. It helps when the avalanche sirens make you jump, when you step into a snowdrift and sink to your thighs, and when the lack of fresh fruit makes you google ‘what are the signs of scurvy?’ The Eyes of a Bird by Rijn Collins I studied Icelandic at university and fell in love with this magical, magnificent land and language. It’s claimed that half the population believe in elves and trolls and that being charmed by Iceland is a result of their spells. If so, then I am willingly spellbound. My memories of my trips there are some of the happiest of my life. Rijn Collins is an award-winning writer with over 100 published short stories. She writes for ABC Radio National and won the inaugural Sarah Awards for Audio Fiction in

In Paris, alone, five stories’ high, naked and taut, she perched like a still life gargoyle come to life. The Naked Woman in Paris by Simmon Wagner The Naked Woman in Paris has maturity only in hindsight. On this trip, I was very much in love with my wonderful husband, exploring Switzerland, Italy, France, Germany, Belgium, London and Paris, but in all our busyness, I had forgotten I need stillness too. Paris awoke in me my stillness. Melbourne Creative, Freelance Writer, working as a Professional Movie Critic, Nationwide Australian Style Writer, Yogini and Founder of theloveauthentic. Curious and trained as a Journalist, Private Investigator and Fashion Designer, now creating content to tell stories, feature friends, wellness, travel and inspiring people. You can find her on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Movie Critic, Style Blogger and at The Love Authentic. Acknowledgements: Memoria is edited and presented by Nat V. Simmon's short story, The Naked Woman in Paris is written by Simmon Wagne

‘I have not run from the POLICE for over 40 YEARS. But I know HOW to’ Those are my FATHER’s words. It’s the 1ST of October 2017 He is ready to VOTE for a NON-BINDING referendum I am on the PHONE to him and I CAN’T breathe Why You Should Care About Catalonia by Silvia Brown On 1st October, before police used violence against voters in a non-binding referendum, I was on the phone to my father, when he said to me: 'I haven't run from the police in over 40 years but I know how to' My piece is a speech created for RMIT PWE course. My motivation is to stir people's consciences. Silvia Brown is a creative writer who calls Australia home. Her dark fiction stories are available in different anthologies on Amazon and she is a contributor writer for GoMovieReviews. You can find Silvia on Twitter.   Acknowledgements: Memoria is written,  produced, edited and presented by Nat V. Silvia Brown's short story, Why You Should Care About Catalonia is written and read by Silvia. Th

The voices were loud. They always were. Once more he had come home long after dinner. Drunk. Always drunk. *A warning that this episode contains scenes of domestic violence and may not be suitable for everyone. Discretion is advised.  Freedom 1964 by Lyn Mitchell I have lived for 70 years and for 60 of those years, I have lived with the knowledge I was not wanted. In the post-war environment, it was not politically or religiously correct to be pregnant before marriage. My mother tried to get rid of me but I needed to be born. Life for the Kyte Family was harsh. 70-year-old University student, Lyn Mitchell has a Diploma of Professional Writing. Her need to write her story led her to this phase of her life. She has been published in Morning Bell Magazine.  You can find Lyn on Twitter @LauraLyn   Memoria is written,  produced, edited and presented by Nat V. Lyn Mitchell's short story, Freedom 1964 is written and read by Lyn. The story is edited by Nat V. Music in this episode is

I knew I would survive if I lived under my parents’ roof until I was married, however, deep down I knew I wouldn’t thrive. I wanted the same experiences my friends were having. It wasn’t just about the alcohol and drugs, although there was plenty of them around and they were mostly good fun. It was about first times, first partners, first shared house, first cooked meal at home, first electricity bill, first bitching session about our flatmate who left the kitchen a mess. Choices of Maha Sidaoui Maha has been writing for over thirty years. First it was letters, then lyrics and later stories. Maha has a love for words and writes stories to search her childhood and early years for whatever it was that made her the person and writer that she has become. The first chapter of her manuscript, One Arabian Girl, was shortlisted for the Deborah Cass Prize. She is currently working on her second big story that has everything to do with family, facing up to big truths and Salman Rushdie. You ca