Overview

Mood is a memoir that perfectly suits our times, and our collective journey to understand how we are shaped by our identities. It is a testament to hard-won growth through self-knowledge. Roz Bellamy is a first-generation Jewish Australian who identifies as non-binary. They met their wife, Rachel, as a university student, as the pair made their first tentative forays into queer culture - and fell in love - through a Buffy the Vampire Slayer online message board. As a young teacher, Roz's longstanding anxiety intensified, as past trauma of being bullied in their own schooldays and the creeping toll of antisemitism in the classroom undermined their burning desire to be the 'perfect' teacher. Therapy to treat their distress became a deeper inquiry. As Roz began to investigate and unfurl the various strands of their identity, and how they intersect to make them who they are, they were handed more pieces of the puzzle. Mood is a story about love, family and self-fulfilment, while living with mental illness. It's also a candid, absorbing inquiry into the self, and the rewards of embracing who you are, in all its complexity and contradictions. Even - especially - when it's hard. Blending storytelling and reflection, this incisive, thoughtful memoir will appeal to fans of Kate Richards, Maria Tumarkin, Leslie Jamison and Kylie Maslen.

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9781743058701

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Reviews

'Roz Bellamy writes with illuminating clarity on life's complexities. Masterful storytelling that will bring you to tears - then action.' - Anna Spargo-Ryan, author of A Kind of Magic 'Roz Bellamy tells a beautiful, powerful story in a voice that's intelligent, slyly funny and wonderfully tender. It's a story that aches to be told, and Roz is so very much the person to tell it.' - Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail 'Mood is a gift: a deeply human and richly intimate search for authentic selfhood that at its heart is a testament not only to the profound pain of exclusion and isolation, but also to the life-saving joys of love, safety and belonging. Bellamy's remarkable story connects and sustains us in our growing awareness that sexuality, gender identity, mood-states and minds each exist on a marvellously all-inclusive continuum.' - Kate Richards, author of Madness: A Memoir

Author Information

Roz Bellamy is a writer, editor and researcher living in Naarm/Melbourne. Their work has been published in The Big Issue, Crikey, the Guardian, Huffington Post, Island Magazine, Kill Your Darlings, Meanjin, Overland and SBS, and in anthologies Growing Up Queer in Australia (Black Inc.) and Living and Loving in Diversity (Wakefield Press). An excerpt of Mood was longlisted for the 2020 Kill Your Darlings Unpublished Manuscript Award. Roz recently completed a PhD at La Trobe University exploring the impact of life writing on young LGBTQ+ people's mental wellbeing.

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