Department of the vanishing
Before the Anthropocene, the air pulsed with birdsong.
Now, a silence is falling.
Ava spends her days at The Department, rebuilding lost species from the remaining fragments of art and scientific data. Her dying mother thinks she should quit. So does her lover, and the sex workers who loiter outside her apartment. But when a ghost from her past shows up, Ava is compelled to follow its broken song deep into the archives––uncovering a secret that could reverse the age of silence.
Set in a time of mass extinction, Department of the Vanishing blends documentary poetry, archival image, and narrative verse to explore the vital questions: Can we live in a world without birdsong, and is it possible to create a new opus with the fragments left over?
‘Rare and resplendent. A full-bodied roar at the crimes of extinction and a psalm for the wonder of the living world.’ — JENNIFER MILLS
Praise
‘A sexy, compelling and beautifully crafted elegy not only to birds but to feeling itself. The denouement is spectacular; I cheered and wept.’ — ANGELA O’KEEFFE
‘Simultaneously fragile and furious, intimate and immense, Department of the Vanishing is a remarkable achievement.’ — JAMES BRADLEY
‘Surprisingly seductive and at times deeply sad, Department of the Vanishing brilliantly explores what it takes to live with grief for lost family and a vanishing wild.’ — JANE MESSER
‘The narrative moves at a cracking pace and the play with poetic form dovetails beautifully with the urgency of the story.’ — TOBY FITCH
Prizes
Winner of the 2025 Tasmanian Literary Award for an unpublished manuscript
‘Department of the Vanishing united the judges with its originality, ambition, and astonishingly confident delivery. Like the song of the lyrebird at the heart of the tale, Department is a collage, weaving fact, fiction, and found objects into a format – and genre – defying blend of near-future environmental dystopia and literary verse. As the protagonist obsessively works to unravel the mystery of her father's disappearance, she begins to unravel herself. The reader becomes complicit, searching through a chaotic collection of intimate notes, police interviews, and archival documents for the truth beneath the noise.’ – Tasmanian Literary Award Judges
Published with Transit Lounge in March 2026
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