Breeze... from a distant land

Dr. Aruna Sitesh (1945-2007) taught English Literature for thirty years and was the Principal of Indraprastha College, Delhi University, for a decade until the last day of her life. A Fulbright Fellow (1991-92) at the University of Chicago and visiting scholar (1993) at Rockefeller Study Centre, Bellagio, Italy, she co-edited Pratibha India for about 24 years. While most of her creative writing, comprising six short story collections, was in Hindi she published another six volumes of critical studies, edited works, etc. in English. Her short story Teesari Dharati figures in the anthology of immortal Hindi short stories by women writers, currently under publication by Sahitya Akademi. The honours and awards she received include Kriti Samman of Hindi Sansthan, U.P. government, and Indira Priyadarshani Award for all round excellence.

This collection presents selected short stories of some of the Australia's pre-eminent women writers, all passionate and painstaking practitioners of their craft. The selection of the writers was made with the active cooperation and help of the English Department of Deakin University, Melborne. These authors represent a wide spectrum of trials, tribulations, dreams and fancies of people in a changing society. All this, seen especially from women's eyes, makes this collection all the more interesting.