Benge Coffey Perspectives
Ithaca
"From returning to Ethiopia to find it wasn’t as her memory had left it, to the Australian Army and Bible school, and culminating in an 800-kilometre trek through the Camino, Alie Benge writes of searching and longing for a sense of place – whatever that may be.
'If home is love, can you have a home and yet be lonely? If you’re lonely, are you in some way away from home?'
These nineteen stories are a pilgrimage: a journey of escaping the cycle of displacement, the constant burden of choice, navigating relationships and love, and coming to terms with separation. Benge unravels the elusive idea of belonging in a deeply nomadic account of what it means to find your way home."
Otherhood
"In Aotearoa the number of people who will never have children is growing — and they’re pushing back against the narrative that if they don’t, their lives will be somehow ‘less than’.
Otherhood’s essays are by writers who’ve felt on the outside looking in, who’ve lived unexpected lives and who’ve given the finger to social expectations. Some chose to be childfree, some didn’t get to choose and some — through bereavement or blended family dynamics — ask themselves: Am I a mother or am I other?
Thought-provoking, moving and often hilarious, Otherhood opens a more inclusive conversation about what makes a fulfilling life."
'Alie Benge’s essays are jumper cables. In each essay another circuit closes, bringing a jolt of understanding – and heart-stopping, heart-starting wonder.'
—Elizabeth Knox, author of The Absolute Book
'Ithaca is a series of meditations on the big quests in our lives. Alie Benge’s unquavering voice guides us through her discoveries with a singular and compelling perspective.'
—Rose Lu, author of All Who Live on Islands