HEAT Series 1

‘It would be absurd to pretend that I have “read the bible”,’ Helen Garner writes. ‘Ten years ago I sat down with three translations and toiled my way through it, taking months. It was an experience of weird, laborious intensity. But you can’t just read the bible once.’

Tanerai (pr. ta-né-raï), or Taneraic as I call my language in English, was first written down in August 1968, when I had just turned thirteen. In my case, writing did indeed precede speech.

March: The days very still and very hot. The light dusted over the city. No one called, no one came. Very pleased with the silence.

Janis Joplin (1943-1970) did not die in a fire. But it is often premised that she burned out. An overdose of unexpectedly pure heroin killed her. Accidentally. She killed herself. The ambiguity of victim or suicide remains unresolved.