The Furphy Anthology 2021 – is a collection of winning and selected short stories from The Furphy Literary Award.

The Furphy name has its place in Australian manufacturing history – perhaps best known for the farm water carts used during the First World War. The soldiers would gather around these carts for a drink of water and the chance to tell stories, often embellished in the telling, developing the now well-known term ‘furphy’.

The Furphy name is also known in the literary world as well. Initially open to writers in the Shepparton region, the Furphy Literary Award is now open to writers of short stories across Australia. The sixteen short stories in the 2021 Anthology are about people and place, about the inner space a person rarely shares with another, perhaps not even with themselves sometimes – like Jim in my story, ‘The Song of the Pines’ – until someone or some event reveals what has been kept hidden for a very long time.