This week, two evocative stories exploring the notion of divinity through history and poetry.

These stories were commissioned by guest editors Hasib Hourani and Adalya Nash for Issue 04: Illuminated Manuscript of Debris Magazine.

 

The Crystal World by Bella Li
There was, on the island of St John, a commonly sighted mirage, appearing to those afflicted by an excess of light: a sea of glass like unto crystal.

In our first story, an enchanting, meditative venture into the realm of lost knowledge, ancient civilizations, and the luminous mysteries of gemstones. From the emerald mines of Cleopatra to Galileo’s forbidden observations, truth is preserved, distorted, and rediscovered - on repeat.

 

Like light through stained glass, knowledge bends, fractures, and reemerges in unexpected colours.

 

Bella Li’s ‘The Crystal World,’ was also selected as part of Unesco's Reading the City of Literature, a snapshot of Melbourne's literary activity over the span of a year. Discover Bella's most recent book Theory of Colours.

Sound design by Tala Issaoui. Discover Tala's work here.

 

God is Trans by Lou Garcia-Dolnik

In our second story, a divine journey unfolds—like a whispered incantation. Against the weight of grief, through the landscapes of identity and remembrance, pain transforms into transcendent beauty; the fluidity of existence defies rigid confines, and despair metamorphoses into a luminous, boundless realm of self-discovery.

Sound design by Zac Pennington.

 

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All The Best Credits

Executive Producer: Phoebe Adler-Ryan

Editorial Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Host: Kwame Slusher

Mixed & Compiled by Emma Higgins

Artwork by Bella Li.

 

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