Anna Poletti's debut novel 'hello, world?' explores erotic imagination and fascism through unconventional characters

Anna Poletti's first novel 'hello, world?' has been published by Puncher & Wattmann. The book follows characters Seasonal and László, who investigate rising fascism through physical and erotic exploration. Seasonal is an Australian heterosexual feminist confronting fears instilled by her violent father, while László is a bisexual Hungarian man who fled his country's right-wing government with his family. They meet online and embark on a collaboration examining power dynamics. Poletti describes the work as aiming to be a page-turner that might engage readers' erotic imaginations, hoping it provides momentary freedom from internal constraints. She notes sexual desire as fundamentally inconvenient and ungovernable, upending established understandings. The author previously wrote criticism, scholarship, and plays in Melbourne's indie theater scene before transitioning to fiction. Her non-fiction background helped identify themes but required new approaches to plot and pacing for bodily and imaginative engagement. The publisher positions the novel within feminist traditions of perversity alongside works by Pauline Réage and Anaïs Nin.