From the author of The Waterfowl Are Drunk! comes a pointed and poignant collection of short stories for the present moment. Dear Ibis is a tender yet unflinching meditation on what it means to feel at home, and what it means to have this taken away. Set in New South Wales’ lush South Coast against the backdrop of the 2019-20 bushfires come stories of birth and death, disability and resilience, colonial greed and moral reckonings. Infused with lyrical prose, vast coastal backdrop and a vividly realised cast of characters, Dear Ibis is a letter for anyone feeling unmoored trying to find their way back to shore.
‘Dear Ibis is a collection that resolutely and sincerely dismantles life’s endless tender brutality and marks Liston-Mills as a formidable contemporary regional voice. Each story beats with a huge pulsating heart, affecting and haunting, long after the book is set aside.’ - Gabbie Stroud, Dear Parents
‘A magnificent, kaleidoscopic vision of tenderness and love, told with courage, humour and precision.’ - Christine Howe, Song in the Dark
‘From the author of The Waterfowl Are Drunk! comes an elegant and moving collection of short fiction set principally in New South Wales. With stories taking place against the backdrop of the 2019-2020 bushfires, stories that explore the tenderness and longing of first love, and stories that explore the ache of motherhood (through the eyes of wetland birds), Dear Ibis is a gentle and deeply affecting collection that is resonant of our times…Like works by authors such as Tim Winton, Josephine Rowe and Alice Bishop, Dear Ibis is dizzyingly honest and refreshingly authentic. Liston-Mills imbues her work with the poignancy of parenthood, loss and longing, and her characters will walk alongside you long after you have turned the final page.’ - Books+Publishing
