Breaking Beauty puts one of the greatest obsessions of our time under the spotlight and shows that beauty rarely exists without its grubby underbelly. There is no light without darkness. Our writers - sparkling talents both established and emerging - discover that beauty can be found in the most unusual and unexpected places... in suburban driveways, graveyards, finials, cupcakes, train stations, grape-vines and of course in the complexities of human relationships. They also find beauty in more conventional places like love, sex and the innocence of childhood. The writers in Breaking Beauty attended the Creative Writing postgraduate program at the University of Adelaide, one of the pre-eminent creative writing programs in Australia. Many have received national awards and been published widely in Australia and internationally. This collection showcases some of our finest established and emerging writers. With stories by Katherine Arguile Lesley Beasley Gillian Britton Rebekah Clarkson Jessica Clements Katherine Doube Annabel Evitts Ruby Ewens Matthew Gabriel Corrie Hosking Rosemary Jackson Melanie Kinsman Stefan Laszczuk Jo Lennan Gay Lynch Mary Lynn Mather Amy T. Matthews Rachael Mead Lilliana Rose Bernadette Smith Anna Solding Reg Taylor Heather Taylor Johnson Lynette Washington Bryan Whalen Sean Williams Kimberley Zeneth