Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath

(Hardback)

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A fearless, tender memoir from the prize-winning writer of Counting and Cracking.

Shakthi lives with his family, in the house his great-grandparents built in Colombo, Sri Lanka, before the civil war. Carried across the seas to Australia, on the strength of his grandmother's will, this house breathes the joy and grief that has passed through generations. And it's here Shakthi writes about the people he loves, all of whom come together to form a portrait of Shakthi himself.
Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath is a story of fallibility, forgiveness and grace. It's a paean to fatherhood and family, and the love and conflicts that make us.

'Raw, unflinching, poetic and profound - an artist's journey and a son's' Shankari Chandran

'A rich exploration of the mystery of finding Australia ... I loved it' Aravind Adiga

'An intimate, tender voyage into history, hunger and home' Omar Musa

'A beautiful and powerful exploration of the intensity and immutability of being a part of a family' Alice Pung

Author Bio

S. Shakthidharan is a Western Sydney storyteller with Sri Lankan heritage and Tamil ancestry. He's a writer, director and producer of theatre and film, and a composer of original music. His debut play, Counting and Cracking, was voted 'the best Australian play of the 21st century' in an ArtsHub poll, was called 'one of the great Australian plays' by The Guardian, and was a New York Times Critic's Pick. The script won the Victorian Prize for Literature in the 2020 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards and the Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting in the 2020 NSW Premier's Literary Awards. His latest play, The Wrong Gods, premiered in 2025.