KIRSTEN KRAUTH and ANGELA SAVAGE (eds) Spinning Around: The Kylie Playlist. Reviewed by Michael Jongen

Not just for Kylie fans: the editors of this anthology inspired by Kylie Minogue have assembled a diverse range of authors and genres.

Each of the 24 writers featured in Spinning Around has taken a Kylie Minogue song – ranging across her repertoire from 1987’s ‘I Should Be So Lucky’ to her latest album, Tension – as the starting point to create an original work. The results include crime, memoir, speculative fiction, poetry, and science fiction.

It’s a follow-up to previous anthologies like Into Your Arms: Nick Cave’s Songs Reimagined (also edited by Kirsten Krauth) and Minds Went Walking: Paul Kelly’s Songs Reimagined (edited by Jock Serong, Mark Smith and Neil A. White). As in those books, each story in Spinning Around offers a brief glimpse into a different world and time, making it an interesting read for fans of Kylie Minogue and short fiction alike

Many stories, such as Alice Pung’s ‘Put Yourself in My Place,’ feature rich character development. Pung’s story, inspired by the song ‘The Loco-Motion’, paints a vivid picture of the dynamics within a south-east Asian community. Her characters feel real and relatable, their struggles and triumphs both heartwarming and eye-opening, showing how music and memory can connect people across different backgrounds and experiences. It is also very funny.

My stage name became Ky Ly Minnow. My first name, my surname, followed by something with scales because I was good at piano. I chose Minnow because the Chinese, Vietnamese and Cambodians could pronounce that better than they could ‘Minogue’, and also in homage to the shark minnow, one of the most common river fish found in the Mekong Delta.

I had a fishy name but I was anything but.

Holden Sheppard is known for his compelling young adult novels. In his Substack he has written about his contribution to the anthology and the song he took as inspiration: ‘Your Disco Needs You’. It is a lovely background to a sweet story, where he plays with his hard guy image. While Sheppard’s novels often tackle complex issues like identity and belonging, his contribution to the anthology is more lighthearted and nostalgic, and I loved that.

I don’t understand pop music and I don’t understand Kylie Minogue, but this wail, this coloratura of light, it transcends language, it forms a wordless plea that all humans can understand. It is pain. It is loneliness. Kylie sings higher and higher, crescendoing notes that sound like opera. It is a pleading to be seen and understood: a lonely soul calling out for a mate, promising to go anywhere it needs to, as long as they can be together.

Rather than reading it straight through, I chose to dip into the collection to read writers I knew and to read about songs that I knew and loved the best, such as ‘Confide In Me’ or ‘Spinning Around’. I found Kris Kneen’s ‘Death is Not the End’ delightfully weird and strange. Christos Tsiolkas’s ‘All the Lovers’ name-checked products in a way that immediately evoked American Psycho. Lucy Treloar’s ‘Into the Blue’ was a tight and intense domestic drama, while in ‘Made of Glass’ Emma Viskic has written a taut and impressive small-town mystery. These were just some of the highlights of the collection for me.

Poems by Thuy On and Ellen van Neerven also grace the anthology.

I feel most Queer when pushed

against a straight place

I spin, I spin, I spin

— Ellen van Neerven

While Minds Went Walking leant more towards Australian cultural themes given Paul Kelly’s iconic status in Australian music, and the songs of Nick Cave are dark, poetic, and often intense, Spinning Around taps into the more global appeal of Kylie Minogue, offering a mix of stories that reflect different cultural and social backgrounds and a broader range of moods and genres, from lighthearted and nostalgic to deep and reflective.

Spinning Around: The Kylie Playlist captures the essence of Kylie Minogue’s music and fits well within the tradition of literary anthologies that draw inspiration from music. It stands out due to its diverse range of voices and genres, making it a refreshing and appealing read for fans of Kylie Minogue and literature alike. The anthology continues the trend of exploring the intersections between music and literature, showing how songs can inspire full-bodied storytelling. .

The book’s diverse writing styles, strong character development, and thoughtful exploration of themes make it a standout collection. The pacing is generally well-balanced and engaging throughout. While some stories shine and others may feel less polished or have tenuous connections to the music, the overall quality remains high.

If you love Kylie’s music, Spinning Around offers a unique literary twist on her songs, providing fresh and imaginative interpretations. This is a vibrant anthology that celebrates Kylie Minogue’s musical legacy through storytelling. Whether you’re a longtime fan or simply enjoy well-crafted short stories, this book is worth exploring.

Kirsten Krauth and Angela Savage (eds) Spinning Around: The Kylie Playlist Fremantle Arts Centre Press PB 320pp $34.99

Michael Jongen is a librarian and you can find him as @larrydlibrarian on Instagram and Threads.

You can buy Spinning Around from Abbey’s at a 10% discount by quoting the promotion code NEWTOWNREVIEW.

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Tags: Alice Pung, Angela | Savage, anthologies, Australian fiction, Australian writers, Christos Tsiolkas, Ellen van Neerven, Emma Viskic, Holden Sheppard, Kirsten | Krauth, Kris Kneen, Kylie Minogue, Lucy Treloar, Nick Cave, Paul Kelly, Thuy On