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Life and Breath: Stories by Ursula Dubosarsky

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 25 Mar 2026

Publisher: Roffo Court Press
ISBN: 9780993547386

“The most graceful, most original writer for young people in Australia—probably the world.” Sonya Hartnett

Ursula Dubosarsky wrote some of the best children’s books of the 1990s and the first word Sonya Hartnett uses to describe her— the word ‘graceful’—is spot-on. In each of the short stories in this very welcome collection, the unshowy grace with which Dubosarsky chooses her words is there for all to enjoy. Most of these stories were originally written to order for anthologies and magazines (many in New South Wales’ School Magazine) and set out to cover a particular theme or mood. One of the most dramatic—The Golden Gate (1992)—resulted from being asked to write a horror story. The story that follows it—Poor Teddy (2007)—was written for an anthology of childhood reminiscences. The Birthday Party (2006) had, according to the author’s notes at the back of the book, a more self-indulgent impetus. “The characters in this story come from two purely comic novels I wrote—My Father Is Not A Comedian and How To Be A Great Detective. I got such pleasure from these books that I wanted to return to the world… even of just for a little while.”

It was a sunny, light-aired day, and we walked quickly down the street strewn with gumnuts. I remember taking several deep breaths, as if to reassure myself that whatever had happened to my strong, smiling uncle, I was still alive and was going to keep on living, and that life and breath were very good things.

Discoveries from the past, hopes for the future and the decisions we make on a knife edge that clarify our own sense of self: these elements inform Ursula Dubosarsky’s multi-award-winning novels and are in sharp, bright evidence in these eleven beautifully crafted short stories, by turns poignant, funny, reflective and joyful, nearly always mercurial, collected together for the first time.

Ursula Dubosarsky has written more than sixty books—picture books, non- fiction, play scripts, early readers, and novels for adolescents. Her books have been published widely throughout the English-speaking world and translated into fifteen languages. She was the Australian Children’s Laureate from 2020-2021 and has won nine state literary awards, the Children’s Book Council Book of the Year Award, and has been nominated internationally for both the Astrid Lindgren (multiple times) and Hans Christian Andersen awards. 

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