A birthday is removed from the calendar. 

The Last Birthday by Helena Pantsis

Read by Ellen Pennell.

Synopsis

Lucy and Mother couldn’t be closer. She’s a perfect daughter, so when mother throw’s her a perfect 17th birthday party, she couldn’t be more grateful, but what comes next is a different kind of surprise.  

The Last Birthday blurs the fairytale genre with elements of horror and the surreal, in a story that will stay with listeners for many Birthdays to come.

The Last Birthday is part of Mother Salad, available now from UWP.  

Listeners are advised that this episode of Unfolded comes with a language and content warning. 

About Helena Pantsis

Helena Pantsis (she/they) is an editor, writer and artist from Naarm, Australia with a fond appreciation for the weird, the dark, and the experimental.

She is the author of her debut short story collection, ‘GLUTT’.

Her poetry collection 'CAPTCHA' and short story collection 'Mother Salad' are both forthcoming in 2026.

More can be found at hlnpnts.com. 

Unfolded is produced with support from the Melbourne Public Humanities Initiative, on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Eastern Kulin Nation.

The producers would like to pay their respects to the traditional owners, to their Elders past and present, and to acknowledge their storytelling history, which goes back tens of thousands of years.