Moments in Between

“From where does joy arise, and to where does it go?”– James Puterflam

The movie that you can rely on to brighten your spirits.

The hobby, place, or person that never fails to make a bad day feel that little bit better.

The desire to hold tightly to what we love, the things we believe in, is so uniquely human that it binds us all together.

When difficult days come rolling in, it is the nature of human beings to turn to the things that keep us afloat. Sometimes, they’re small, so dismissible that to put weight on them seems a fool’s errand: the smell of baking bread; the joy you feel when, finally, your home garden begins to sprout; the moments we don’t appreciate when life is going right, only when it’s going wrong.

But it is these simple pleasures that make us who we are.

In a world of chaos, complications and controversy, it is these thoughts that calm, cultivate and connect. These pages contain the scribbles of pleasure, a look into the simplest of joys, the wildest of passions, found in the moments in between.

“You need only turn around the corner to find it. Just where you left it.” – Vanessa Vu

Diana Reid is a Sydney-based writer. Her debut novel, Love & Virtue, was an Australian bestseller and winner of the ABIA Book of the Year Award, the ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year Award, the ABA Booksellers’ Choice Fiction Book of the Year Award, and the MUD Literary Prize. Love & Virtue was also shortlisted for the Indie Debut Fiction Award, the ABIA Matt Richell New Writer Award, and Highly Commended at the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. Diana was also named a Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelist in 2022.

The University of Sydney Anthology is created, curated and produced by publishing students.

Foreword by Diana Reid

Acknowledgments

Trains, Planes, and Blackberry Pie by Freya Elizabeth Bell

A Map of Ice Cream in Sydney by Zoe Morris

Holding Hands by Juan Pablo Guevara Morales

A Morning of Bliss by Ashleigh Cuthill

The Heater by Juan Pablo Guevara Morales

Carlton crescent, Summer Hill by Zoe Morris

In the Key of by Atticus Santamaria

Anthem from the Fryless Dystopian by Joel Fitzgibbons

Brown Girls and White Dreams by Sharmila Jayasinghe

Be Still by Caitlin Anderson

Nocturnal Sounds by Vanessa Vu

The Sky is a Teenage Girl by Zoe Morris

Wind Chimes/Pearl Earrings by A.E. Leighton

Brewed by Zara

The Little Beach by Sarah Nicole Ambrose

December by Hannah Roux

Summer Water by Juan Pablo Guevara Morales

The Lady of the Lake by Tom Williamson

Plates

Hiding in Plain Sight by James Puterflam

Things We Loved and Lost by Sharmila Jayasinghe

A Darn Good Cuppa – A Memoir by Susanna Smith

walking to a babysitting job, 28/5/22 by Zoe Morris

Neighbourhood Wisteria by Emma Murphy

Happiness in the Steel Strings by Wooden Peach

Presence by Harold Legaspi

A Room Without Books by Thomas Evans

An Ordinary Evening at Ashgrove by Blake Isaac Falcongreen

Stepping Out for Air by Sophie Bellotti

A Life of Moments by Aoife Edwards

The Sajdah (Prostration) by Naosheyrvaan Nasir

Dream Walker by Zara

Happy Fifteenth by Carmen Vallis

Things I Find Beautiful by Sarah Nicole Ambrose

Water and Mountains by Hannah Roux

Del o Ghalb by Danny Yazdani

The Children’s Bach by Blake Isaac Falcongreen

All the Small Things by Djuna Hallsworth

Pure Joy by James Puterflam

Rhythm is Going to Get You by Sharmila Jayasinghe

Reflection of a Witching Hour Complexion by Joel Fitzgibbons

About the Authors

About the Editors