Anna has published many stories in a variety of journals and collections as well as on-line. In March 2012, her highly anticipated first novel, The Hum of Concrete was published by MidnightSun Publishing.
The Hum of Concrete
Here is a sample of the wonderful things reviewers have had to say about the book:
‘The Hum of Concrete buzzes along with quiet intensity is it shadows the lives of some of Malmo’s female residents, whether it’s Palestinian immigrant Nassrin tying to make sense of her new home, or Estella discovering that she has a half-brother; or Bodil reluctantly succumbing to the charms of a visiting Australian. Birth, sex and death feature in the book but it’s a credit to Solding’s sure-footedness that there is a lightness of touch in these stories; nothing is weighed down with overwriting or overexposure. Even in the most despairing moments there is hope and tenderness beneath the ragged edges.’
– Thuy On, The Age
‘…an enchanting novel’
‘…what seems at first to be a series of unassuming, though remarkably evocative, stories soon develops into something much more intricate. Solding herself refers to the book as a “novel constellation” and it’s a perfect description. For over time, as the lives of these five women become entangled, the stories gently weave themselves together into an emotionally complex whole.’
‘It’s a technique that has been used to great effect recently by Steven Amsterdam and Gretchen Shirm, and Solding brings to the form an ingenuous touch. There is an unadorned honesty and humanity to the way she writes about these women, and her evocation of their lives and the city in which they live is both sensuous and heartfelt.’
– Diane Stubbings, The Canberra Times
On Writing
Writing is life. To me, writing can be anything and everything. It is the hardest job in the world. Research suggests that no matter how long you have been doing it for, it never gets any easier. But there is nothing else I would rather be doing.
To be honest, one of my main reasons for becoming a writer was that I always refused to get stuck in a 9 to 5 job. The fact that I am a compulsive reader helped me move another few steps on my career path. Then I came across the Creative Writing courses at The University of Adelaide and there was no turning back.