An unprecedented look at the lived experience of mental health in creative work, as told by writers, comedians and public figures

We are full of worlds that can't be contained by a pill.

This groundbreaking collection documents the state of mental health in Australia, foregrounding a wide range of voices with lived experience defining themselves beyond a diagnosis.

Admissions showcases more than one hundred works: poems, essays, lyrics, fiction and illustrations from some of our leading writers, comedians and public figures challenging prescribed notions of illness, recovery, treatment and trauma while reclaiming language as an act of mad pride.

Exploding with optimism and pain, encounters and descriptions, this is an unprecedented exploration of what is carried through life and writing.

Contributors include: Sara M. Saleh, Grace Tame, Felicity Ward, Shastra Deo, Nat's What I Reckon, Helena Fox, Krissy Kneen, Christine Anu, Elizabeth Tan, Justin Heazlewood, Kristen Dunphy, Jennifer Wong, Fiona Wright, Amani Haydar, Omar Sakr, Sam Twyford-Moore, Ellen van Neerven, Ali Cobby Eckermann, Anna Spargo-Ryan, Eunice Andrada, Steven Oliver and many more.

"This cacophony of own voice narratives broadens the conversation around mental health in Australia." – Maxine Beneba Clarke

"Admissions moved me to tears. It is an anthology both connected and disconnected, an echo of the mental illness and recovery, the isolation and community experienced by the authors. With fearlessness, anger and gracious vulnerability, this collection bleeds and heals and bleeds again. Each piece is extremely special, and extremely important: a howl into the void, a loving ode to selves, and a bearing witness. We are lucky to have these writers, and these words." – Laura Helen McPhee-Browne

"Significant and compelling." – Claudia Karvan