Creative Matters

Absent Without Leave: A Travel Memoir of Strange Mourning

Authors

  • Susan Bradley Smith La Trobe University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5463/ejlw.2.30

Keywords:

Creative non-fiction

Abstract

This creative non-fiction essay is from a book in progress, a parenting memoir called ‘Hunting Flowers’. The edge with this memoir is that is written honestly in the (guilty) voice of a female academic who has 'run away' from home for work far too often - and gets into too much trouble, both at home and away. It covers two decades, five children, four continents, a few husbands, and more universities than sensible in any one life. Absent Without Leave in particular uses the confessional voice to tells stories not only against the self, but against the larger dramatis persona, the institutions and people we work with and for. The main thematic concern - is it ethical, this hunt for success, when we absent ourselves form our children? - is swallowed by the constant feminist nag: is this the only way to do it?

Author Biography

Susan Bradley Smith, La Trobe University

Susan Bradley Smith is an award-winning Australian writer and academic who has spent much of her adult life as an expatriate. Her latest books are the shortlisted poetry collection supermodernprayerbook and the memoir Friday Forever. She is currently working on a biography of Winston Churchill’s actress daughter Sarah, Lady Audley. She lives in Melbourne and teaches at La Trobe University, and is the founder director of the creative bibliotherapy practice, The Lemonade Academy www.lemonadeacademy.com.

Published

2013-03-28

Issue

Vol. 2 (2013): EJLW

Section

Creative Matters

Copyright (c) 2013 Susan Bradley Smith

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  • Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  • Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  • Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).