Every year, the Hope Prize gives short-story writers worldwide an opportunity to have their new work published in a respected anthology, with all royalties from sales supporting a worthy organisation, which this year is Beyond Blue.
While most of the stories in Tomorrow There Will Be Sun are penned by writers living in Australia, entries from Nigeria, England, Ireland and Scotland are also included. The stories submitted for publication could cover any subject, but they have to “speak to themes of hope, courage and resilience as experienced or expressed by … the author”. Perhaps an unintended consequence of this is that the collection speaks of gloom and disaster as much as joy and hope; perhaps one cannot successfully evoke concepts like hope without reference to their dark contrasting counterparts.
Because if one is to write about hope for something better, one has to conjure the dire situation from which hope springs. One has to portray the terrible events that require resilience. One has to recount the heartbreaking situations that one needs courage to survive. The more vivid these depictions of despair are, the more compelling the message of hope becomes.
So, while most of the stories end if not on a cheerful note, but at least on a note blossoming with a sense of better things to come or of something achieved, that does not erase the memory of all the bad previously described. That may not be a problematic thing, but it is certainly not a cheerful one.
As to the individual stories, the standard of writing is very high. The 20 stories that comprise this collection are, after all, the cream that has risen from the milk of a more than 1400 entries. A wide range of subjects is covered, including good and bad luck, loneliness, substance abuse, poverty, war, family relationships, animal relationships, poverty and irretrievable loss. There is one superb example of a twist in the tail. There are a few that reach a happy conclusion and many that make you wish to know what happens next. All, in one way or another, reveal something valuable about our humanity.
One of the judges, Dame Quentin Bryce, contributes a short foreword. She talks about hope and concludes with the prediction that readers will find in this collection “the inspiration we need for a life filled with joy and contentment”. And there is a lengthy but interesting introduction by the CEO of Beyond Blue, Georgie Harman, explaining the work of that organisation. It’s surprising, however, that Harman does not specifically refer to any of the stories beyond expressing the wish that readers “enjoy this book, an anthology of hope”.
Read: Book review: Australia in 100 Words, Amanda Laugesen
And it certainly is an enjoyable book, in spite of the many grim situations described. Enjoyable because it features, as the publisher obviously intended, that there is value in hope, that hope can be curative. If you buy this anthology, you not only contribute to a good cause, then, but you acquire a feast of well told short stories that can be relished not just for their diversity, but also for their demonstrably deep understanding of the human condition.
Tomorrow There Will Be Sun: A Hope Prize Anthology
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 9781761428715
Format: Paperback
Pages: 368 pp
Publication date: 4 December 2024
RRP: $24.99
