because writing is my vice

Libby Hart - Poet Series

2012-02-11T18:49:00.001+11:00

Libby Hart’s most recent collection of poetry, 'ThisFloating World' was shortlisted for a Victorian Premier's Literary Award (CJDennis Prize for Poetry) and 'The Age' Book of the Year Awards (Dinny O'HearnPoetry Prize).

When did you first start writing poetry?

I started writing poetry in my early twenties. Poetryhovered around me like a longing before I began writing it. At the time I wasan avid reader of poetry and still am of course, any writer is an avid reader,but I suppose it was my own insecurities that blocked me from allowing myselfto say: Yes, I could do that too.

In so many ways poetry is an apprenticeship that perhapsyou never graduate from. I always enjoy quoting that story by Annie Dillardabout French workers. When an apprentice gets hurt or is exhausted, theexperienced workers say to him or her: It is the trade entering your body.Poetry enters the body every day. It enters you and you enter it. There ismystery and joy and heartbreak and exhaustion. Sometimes all at the same time.

What do youenjoy most about it?

I think enjoy is the wrong word for me. Poetryis sanctum – it’s where I live and breathe, and find shelter when it’s mostneeded. And this extends to all poetry, not just my own.

Poetry is a very organic thing for me. It is aboutcapturing what enters your body, what touches you: a place, a moment, and a‘matter of the heart’. Words walk through me very organically. I am touched bythem and I have to capture them and make them into something more than afragment or a line of poetry. So these are the two things that go side by side:the moment of connection or response to place, event or subject; and then theaction to articulate. Sometimes these can be years apart.

Tell me about the first poem you had published.

The first poem I published was titled, ‘Rebecca’s Hands,1923’. It was published in 1995 in the AustralianMulticultural Book Review (Issue 2) and it was in response to a Paul Strandphotograph of his wife’s hands. The composition was very tight and composedonly of Rebecca’s hands, hence the title of the photograph and the poem. Thisis still one of my favourite photographs. I am a very visual person and I loveblack and white photography. I have a profound respect for the likes of Strandand other groundbreaking US photographers of that era, including Edward Weston,Dorothea Lange and Imogen Cunningham to name but a few. The poem discussed thephotograph and branched out into such things as palmistry and fate.

What is your usual writing routine? Doyou write every day?

If I have a routine as such it is largely about keepingfocused. I have a full time job, so it is actually really hard finding the timeto write and unfortunately I never do as much as I want to. But my routine goesbeyond the physical act of writing. I do a great deal of thinking and feelingmy way through a poem. This entails notes, fragments of lines, a lot of readingand research, and I am also always reading other people’s work which helps keepmy mind open and fresh.

I do all of this each day and wherever possible I escapeat lunch time to scribble away, edit drafts of poems or go to the library tosearch out a research title or poet or subject matter I have been thinkingabout. I try to do at least an hour or two of work in the evenings and whereverpossible I dedicate at least one day of the weekend to writing.

What advice would you give a would-be poet?

I often say that I didn’t choose poetry, it chose me. I’mnot really sure why it decided to tap me on the shoulder. There have beenmoments in my life when I really wish I knew the answer to that question, buteach time I ask it I come up empty-handed. What I know is this: I write poetrybecause I don’t have a choice. I write poetry because it is sanctuary. I writepoetry because it gives me a voice. I write poetry because it allows me tounravel a situation, an event or a subject and make sense of it. Poetry ismystical and mysterious, and I honour it as best as I can.

My advice is always to read, read, read. Read otherpoets. Learn from them. Read non-fiction and fiction. Learn from them too.Question. Observe the world around you. Live as authentically and as fully asyou possibly can. Listen to music. Listen to what a song is telling you. Go togalleries and explore the visual. Watch films. Good films. Listen to thelanguage that is going on underneath the conversations. Use all of your senses.And get very familiar with your gut instinct because this will be yourlong-time companion in writing poetry. Travel as much as you can. Go to placesthat make you uncomfortable and make you question. Live in the world and respondto it. Know your stuff, but also remember that it takes time to grasp it. Andallow yourself to keep learning. The keep learning part is the most crucial. Bepatient. Have an editor’s eye. Don’t be a smart arse. Always listen toconstructive criticism. Remember that you learn something from every poem youwrite or read. Don’t ever think poetry is an ‘elite sport’, you are onlycompeting with yourself. Be professional and reliable. And more than anythingelse: ‘know thyself’ and make sure you have something to say.

What’s your opinion of self publishing? Would yourecommend it?

I haven’t really given a lot of thought to selfpublishing, so I can’t discuss this issue in any great detail. I think if apoet is intending to self publish then I would strongly advise them to getassistance from an editor, designer and possibly an artist or photographer.What makes a book a beautiful object is good design and excellent editing. Thework is fundamental of course, but it takes skilled editing and design toreally make your poetry the very best that it can be.

Do you perform your poetry? What are the differencesbetween writing for the page and writing for the stage?

I write for the page and I read my poems, but I am in noway a performer. There is a great deal of difference between the page and thestage, if you are talking about performance poetry. I can’t really discuss thisin any great detail because it’s another world to me and for the manyperformance poets I know they feel the same way about ‘page’ poetry. SometimesI get a strong suspicion that there is a line firmly drawn between the two, asif we’ll all break out into a dance from WestSide Story, but it really doesn’t have to be like that. After all, poetryis as widely diverse as the people writing it.

Have you been inspired or influenced by a particularpoet’s work? How did it affect your own work?

I don’t think I could ever pinpoint just one poet orpiece of poetry. There have been many, many instances in my life where a poethas shaped my perspective. But if I had to give one example today what springsto mind is when I first discovered Michael Hartnett in an unassuming anthologyof Munster poets about a year before I visited Ireland for the first time.

The first poem by Michael Hartnett I ever read was ‘Deathof an Irishwoman’ and anyone that is familiar with this poem will know what apowerful introduction that must have been. What I remember most about thatfirst experience was that I read this poem with all of me being present. That’sthe one thing that struck me most – that he made me sit up and take notice fromthe very first line. I also knew from that moment on that he was telling mesomething in a way no other person could – and how attractive is that for aperson such as me who, like Ruth Stone, ‘decided very early on not to writelike other people’.

Michael Hartnett was my introduction into what I woulddescribe as an un-homogenised Ireland. And he spoke of it in his own way, withhis own gripes and philosophies. He also introduced me to the bards and helpedme reacquaint myself with my love of the Irish language, something that hadlain dormant for about fifteen years. Michael Hartnett is spectacular becausehe is achingly real. He wrote it (and lived it) like it was, in all of hiscontradictory ways. He was at times uncompromising, but always heartbreakingand authentic. My favourite Michael Hartnett poem is ‘Sibelius in Silence’,it’s an extraordinary poem of great deft and vision.

If you had to choose a favourite contemporary poet who would it be and what makes them yourfavourite?

I can’t choose only one and my favourites list willinevitably change again and again, but for today I would say John Burnside andCarolyn Forché. I respect them both for writing uniquely and full of spirit andintelligence. Both poets tackle very different terrain, but they do loop upsomewhere in the soul department, as they are both preoccupied with existenceand what it means to ‘be’. John Burnside just keeps getting better and better,and I highly recommend his latest book, BlackCat Bone. I’m sure Carolyn Forché has another book just around the corner,but her 2003 volume, Blue Hour, wasbreathtaking to read for the first time and I pick it up again and again andagain to help me clear away the clutter of my thoughts and anxieties aboutwriting poetry. Her poem, ‘On Earth’ is one of my very favourite pieces ofpoetry.

What about the masters? Who would you choose and why?

I’m not crazy about the word, ‘masters’. It makes methink of Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED lecture and her discussion around genius andits Roman roots. Each comes from the same place and each is more complicatedthan a label. But who do I respect? Whose legacy is it that I return to againand again? I would say Ted Hughes, Homer, Ovid, Rilke, Shelley and Shakespeare.And there are others such as William Carlos Williams, Pablo Neruda, WilliamStafford, TS Eliot, Rimbaud and a whole heap of others including James Joyceand Chekhov (Chekhov may have never written a poem in his life, but he had apoet’s heart).

For the first six poets I am thinking it would be selfexplanatory, but Ted Hughes is pitch-perfect time and time again. His vision ismind blowing, really. We are forever in debt to Homer and Ovid. Rilke’smysticism is his finest attribute. Shelley’s authenticity and wild intelligencewas my way into writing poetry thanks to the wonderful Richard Holmes and hisbeautifully written biography, Shelley:The Pursuit. And Shakespeare... what could I possibly say about the manthat has not already been said? Hamlet ismy favourite of all of his work. I reread it recently and it still blew me awayafter all these years.

What, of your own work, is your favourite poem?

That’s a very hard question for me to answer because I amover critical when it comes to my writing. What I will say is that ‘ThisFloating World’ is the poem that means the most to me.

‘This Floating World’ is a very long piece (46 pages inbook form). I had parts of the poem published in a variety of journals both inAustralia and overseas, but the work as one whole poem was published in mysecond collection of poetry, ThisFloating World, published last year (2011) by Five Islands Press. Thesongline makes up the bulk of this collection although there are four ‘overture’ poems in the firstsection.

What was the inspiration for, or story behind, the piece?

‘This Floating World’ is a songline or oral map of the island of Ireland. Thereader is guided through the songline by an omnipotent force who listens in onthe intimate soliloquies of people, ghosts, birds and animals. Even thelandscape and ocean have the opportunity to speak from time to time. The work is essentially a celebrationof how, in some small way, we are connected to all things.

‘ThisFloating World’ was born from an extensiveroad trip I embarked on when I first visited Ireland in 2005. The journey of thesongline is largely influenced by the route undertaken at that time. I was thenfortunate to receive an international residency from the Australia Council forthe Arts to spend time at The TyroneGuthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig in County Monaghan (Ireland) in2008 in order to write the first draft of this book.

The work is faithfulto the elements and the ethereal. Water holds a strong presence in Ireland,whether it is through rain, mist, bogs, loughs, waterfalls, holy wells, seasand ocean. Wind also, particularly in the west of Ireland, is a force to bereckoned with. Because of this I shaped a poetic narrative that is dictated bythe direction of the wind or rain. Fluid and transient in nature, ‘This Floating World’ is full ofrushed thoughts, forgotten histories and quiet contemplations that reiteratetransience and mutability.

Obviously I can’t include the whole poem here for youtoday, but I will give you an abridged version of it in the form of one voicefrom the songline. This particular voice is called ‘Dreamer – Trá Chloichir’ and it is placed aboutthree quarters of the way into the poem.

One thing I will stress about ‘This Floating World’ isthat time is elastic inside the work itself. Both the present and the pastintermingle with ease. So too do both this concrete world in which we live inand the Otherworld. And although I created an Otherworld that was eclectic andfull of creative license, it was still faithful to the idea that there are twoworlds connected to the island. This belief system is still prevalent ineveryday Ireland, most particularly in remote areas, and I do admire this sideof traditional Irish culture very much.

The voice, ‘Dreamer’, chiefly concerns the legend of the selkie-folkor seal people who transform themselves from seals to human. I have loved thislegend for many, many years so I was very keen to include a selkie in the work.

Dreamer – Trá Chloichir

Dark one are you restless to this sea inside you?
To the chill that seeps into marrow
when you circle your secrets?

Altered and sooty-eyed
you haul a billowing scent
when you come to the surface.

A wave made flesh, made of bone.
Slip of sealskin, the chuck of it,
a seaweed of your own making.

You are naked now, you are glorious.
You are a man uponthe land who needs time
to find his feet.

You take back your shadow
and gaze out to sea,
drinking in the memory of it

while the shrug of your wet skin
lies loosely in your arms.
The pelt of bog will keep it moist

fostering desire
until the pull of your second life
hooks you again.

You fold its enigma
with new found fingers,
heed it like a breathing creature.

You use your hands
like they’re the centre of things,
the cusp of things.

Are they indeed your soul, those hands?

Notes:‘Dark one are you restless’ is from Thomas Kinsella’s translation of The Táin (Oxford University Press,Oxford, 1970). Reproduced with kind permission of the translator. ‘A man upon the land’ is from a traditional Irishpoem (‘I am a man upon the land / I am a selkie in the sea’). ‘Are theyindeed your soul, those hands’ is from, ‘Anatomy of a Cliché’ by MichaelHartnett from Selected and New Poems(The Gallery Press, Oldcastle, County Meath, 1994). Reproduced with kindpermission of The Gallery Press.

This Floating World,Five Islands Press, 2011, Melbourne
To order: http://www.fiveislandspress.com

Fresh News from theArctic, Interactive Press, 2006, Brisbane
To order: www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9781876819347/Fresh-News-from-the-Arctic

Website:libbyhartfile.blogspot.com
Blog: theworldasaroom.blogspot.com
Five PoetryJournal (which I edit): fivepoetryjournal.tumblr.com

Janet Jackson - Poet Series

2012-01-25T15:10:00.042+11:00

JANET JACKSON is a writer and editor and a poet of page, screen and microphone. Her poems have appeared in print and online media including Westerly, Mattoid, BLAST, The West Australian, nthposition (UK) and Hamilton Stone Review (US).

When did you first start writing poetry? What do you enjoy most about it?

I enjoyed writing poetry in primary school, but only got into it seriously during my honours year at uni. I used to write long letters to my mother; she said I had talent as a writer and should maybe do something with it. I bought a small notebook that would fit in my bag, and when I wrote, the words came out in short lines. If I'd been carrying a satchel instead of a handbag perhaps I would have become a novelist instead. But probably not.

I enjoy writing poetry because it's a very flexible, free artform - you can do anything - constrain yourself as little or as much as you like - and I like the way the patterns and sounds create the spirit, the feeling of the poem. I also enjoy the intellectual aspect of it - looking up the etymologies of words, learning the history of the language, learning about other people's poetry.

Tell me about the first poem you had published. What was it about?

In year 4 I wrote a poem called 'Machines' which the class performed, with actions, for the parents at an assembly. That's my first memory of a poem being shared with the world!

'A female poem' was published in 'Mattoid' in 1991. You can read it online at www.proximitypoetry.com/Writing/Poems/1991-1995/female.html

What is your usual writing routine? Do you write every day?

It depends what else is going on in my life and how I feel. Sometimes I write nothing for days or even weeks. At the moment an ideal day means writing and editing in the morning before I go near the Internet! But poems can strike at any moment. I write late at night, too. And on trains. And at readings. And during meals. When I teach workshops and classes I write along with the students.

What advice would you give a would-be poet?

Read as much poetry as you can. Find a writing group (online or face-to-face) or an editor or mentor who will give you honest feedback and help you improve your poems.

What’s your opinion of self publishing? Would you recommend it?

Yes! With books, in terms of distribution, if you're prepared to do the legwork, it's at least as good as publishing with a small press. With a lot of hard work you might actually break even. But only if you first learn the craft - it takes time and practice - and build up your audience by doing readings, networking, and publishing in magazines. People don't buy books, or e-books, by poets whose work they don't know.

If, for whatever reason, you want status in the Australian literary world, your self-published book needs to be reviewed in literary magazines or newspapers, and that's a hard thing to pull off.

Do you perform your poetry? What are the differences between writing for the page and writing for the stage?

Yes - I'm probably known more for performing than for publishing.

The main difference is that, in our culture, poems are read or recited only once - the audience never call out 'again! again!' - so there's no way to 'rewind' for a second or third hearing. So if you are writing only for performance, the audience needs to 'get it' in one go, which is limiting.

Have you been inspired or influenced by a particular poet’s work? How did it affect your own work?

Lately I've been reading classical Chinese poetry, such as the poems of Li Po. There's a sense of heightened awareness, not just of the world, but of the words themselves - almost every word has multiple connotations and layers of meaning, so that even a very short poem can have a lot of depth.

If you had to choose a favourite contemporary poet who would it be and what makes them your favourite?

Steve Smart. Because of the outrage, the sadness, the emotional nakedness. He really does write for performance, to connect with an audience. I don't think you can appreciate his poetry by silently reading the text - it needs to be said aloud.

For technical virtuosity and delight in language, I'd recommend Geoff Lemon.

What about the masters? Who would you choose and why?

Louis MacNeice, for the colour of his sound.

Choose a favourite one of your own poems to be published with your interview.

'Celtic Knots'

Why is it your favourite?

I don't have a favourite, but I think this one is one of my best, in terms of technical accomplishment as well as impact.

Where was it first published?

In 'Blast' magazine, Canberra, 2007.

What was the inspiration for, or story behind, the piece?

My visit to Dublin in 2005.

Celtic knots

(St Audoen’s Church, Dublin, 2005)

Temple of history, temple

of short lives long

gone, temple of hundreds

of souls… trod

on me hard as I trod

on its layers

of graves. Quiet

spirits whispered hundreds

of hushes

from the eleventh-

century walls.

If I ever go to church in Dublin this is where.

Not in St Patrick’s with its souvenir stalls.

If I go back to Dublin,

if I take you there,

let me take you to St Audoen’s

on a Sunday when the congregation sit,

sing, kneel and pray

where their people have prayed

for a thousand years.

Used continuously since the Normans built it.

Centuries of extension, of chapels and courtyards.

In the fourteenth century, a square tower

with battlements

and bells.

Centuries of loss. Roofs taken off

to escape the roof tax. Gravestones and monuments

weathering away. Dirt building up, the ground rising

in layers of rubble. The townspeople crowding,

singing, chattering, hanging their washing

wall to wall in the roofless buildings.

Stone turning black in the tower.

Bells ringing.

Ringing bells. Re-roofing. Hanging cables. Excavating.

Discovering a cobbled way, a metre wide.

Leaving a section uncovered. Roped off,

with a sign asking us to imagine the people

who walked on the cobbles hundreds of years ago.

Ghosts projected on the ancient wall

in silverblue light, with ethereal music.

Walking. Going, coming. Living on.

Two tourists; a visiting priest; the guide.

Hush, said the ghosts of St Audoen’s.

Hush. This is not St Patrick’s.

Still your chattering modern mouths.

Listen for us and you will hear us

in the hush.

There was a lucky stone, a four-foot ovoid,

pitted and worn with time and touch,

Celtic symbols just visible.

Once stolen, but soon returned.

(The thief had to bring it back: it got heavier
and heavier.) Older than this oldest church,

made by people at the edge of memory.

People who knew how to make symbols

in the way of the land and the layers,

in the way of the earth and her children.

Writing this I touch the necklace

I bought in a souvenir shop in O’Connell street.

A cheap thing, but its four Celtic knots

are enough.

The other tourist touched the stone. For luck.

I didn’t. Couldn’t.

I am too new, too full of dirty salt,
not clean enough.

Old eyes look at me from my wall.

A print: a painting

in which a face appears like a vision

in a stone.

— What are you writing now? the eyes say.

— I’m writing about St Audoen’s.

Have you been there? Did you hear the hush?

Did you touch the lucky stone?

— Do a good job of it then, the eyes say.

— It’s only a sketch for now. Getting it down — you know.

— That’s the way.

I didn’t touch the stone. But my luck was in.

Arms held me, eyes met me, streets

and stones and the river spoke to me.

I was knotted into the strands of Dublin.

Raw ends joined, a pattern completed,

and the rough, the narrow, the cobbled path

took me home.

'Coracle' cover designed by Raymond Grenfell.

Buy 'Coracle' at www.proximitypoetry.com/Books/coracle.html. Book, 94 poems, $25

And in various independent bookshops

Melbourne: Collected Works, Brunswick St Bookstore

Sydney: GleebooksPerth: Crow Books, MacQueen Books and othersAdelaide: Mary Martin, Mostly Books, EAF Bookshop

Buy 'q finger' from www.wellsprungproductions.com.au/PressPress/PressPress_Jackson.html. Chapbook, 24 poems, $9.95

Buy 'consumable gifts' from your friendly local zine distro or from www.proximitypoetry.com/Books/consumable.html. Zine, 20 poems, $5

Find out more about Janet by visiting www.proximitypoetry.com - Find her on facebook - facebook.com/lostpoetjj - follow her on twitter - @lostpoetjj

Coming Soon!

2012-01-24T07:54:00.001+11:00

I am painfully aware that almost an entire month has passed of this new year and I have not delivered on my promise.

I have the green light from about ten poets and the contact details for several more so I hope within the next week one of them will have returned their interview and we'll be away...

In the meantime why not take a look through the archives...maybe you missed a post or two.

Last words for 2011

2011-12-22T13:29:00.006+11:00

Well the time has come to wrap up on another busy year of reading and writing. I got off to a slow start reading-wise due to last year's christmas toy (iPad) but I finished strong.

I've read a lot of poetry this year and have added quite a few titles to my shelves. Some favourites include This Floating World by Libby Hart, Ocean Hearted by Graham Nunn, The Taste of River Water by Cate Kennedy, Stepping Over Seasons by Ashley Capes and Seasons of Doubt & Burning by Robyn Rowland.

As for fiction, I enjoyed some fantastic story-telling by Jon Bauer Rocks in the Belly, Emma Donoghue Room and Mette Jakobsen The Vanishing Act.

I didn't do as much writing as I had hoped but still managed a fairly hefty rewrite of the first 90 pages of my novel and about a dozen new poems and 2 short stories. What I didn't do this year was send anything out for publication. So this is the big goal for 2012 - submit! I'll have plenty of poetry to work on for submission because I've signed myself up for Month of Poetry and will be writing one new poem a day throughout January.

I was part of two writing/critique groups this year and gained some valuable feedback on my novel from both so a big thanks goes out to Tony, Eleanor, Sam M, Bec, Sam P, Stacey, Kathy, Tina and John.

I brought you 33 author interviews throughout the year and I hope to bring you more in 2012. I am going to focus on poets next year (with a few fiction writers in there as well) and hope to bring one contemporary poet to your attention each month. Perhaps I'll even share some of my own...

Enjoy the holidays, however & wherever you celebrate them and I hope you keep reading in 2012.

~ Lisa

Dianne Blacklock - Author Interview Series

2011-12-17T19:21:00.012+11:00

Dianne Blacklock is the author of eight books, Call Waiting, Wife for Hire, Almost Perfect, False Advertising, Crossing Paths, Three’s a Crowd, The Right Time, and The Secret Ingredient.

What authors/books did you read as a child? When did you first discover your love of books?

I read everything I could get my hands on. Seven little Australians was an early favourite; all and anything by Enid Blyton – adored The Famous Five and The Secret Seven. Then there were the usual suspects - Milly Molly Mandy, Pippi Longstocking, Little Women, Heidi, Alice in Wonderland, The Wind in the Willows, Winne the Pooh ... you name it, I read it.

I can’t remember when I started to love books, because I just always did. I was constantly getting into trouble for reading by the light from the hall outside my bedroom, well after I was supposed to be asleep!

When did you first realise you were a writer? What do you hope your readers will take away with them from reading your books?

I have always written stories, it was just part of me. I was a bit naughty at school – mainly talkative, it wouldn’t be remarkable these days in the more relaxed classrooms – however, I did well at school mostly because I could write. My stories were frequently read out at assemblies, won awards, that kind of thing. As I grew older I still loved to write all the time, I could make sense of what was going on in my head by putting it down on paper. But I was from a working class family, the fifth of six kids, it didn’t even occur to me to be a writer or to pursue writing in any serious way. So it wasn’t until I was in my late twenties, when a friend suggested we do some writing together, that I really threw myself into it. But I didn’t believe I was an actual writer until I got the nod from a publisher.

I hope my readers are entertained, and perhaps find something to relate to in my books, that may even help them feel okay about their situation in life.

Do you find it difficult to read purely for pleasure? Does everything you read come under your ‘writer’ microscope?

I can read purely for pleasure, but only outside my ‘genre’. Stories don’t always conform to labels, and I am drawn to strong domestic narratives, but I read commercial women’s fiction sparingly. I either worry that I’ll inadvertently ‘steal’ ideas, or I get worried if I read an idea or a storyline that’s similar to something I’m working on. Or I get intimidated by how good the writer is!

Do you have to avoid reading certain types of fiction while writing your own? Does what you read while writing have an effect on what you write? In what way?

I find it difficult to read fiction at all when I am deeply immersed writing my novels, especially in the end stages. I’m not someone who can pick up a book and read it for 10 minutes. I stay up half the night … just one more chapter, oh, what the heck, just another chapter ... so I find it very difficult to have two fictional worlds competing in my head. I do keep reading during the earlier stages, but it often tampers with my voice. I was reading John Irving a couple of books ago, and found I was writing with the intricate, every day detail you find in a lot of American novels – which I love. It’s about finding the balance between being inspired, and just plain mimicking.

Name five authors or books that have influenced or inspired your own writing in some way?

Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Jonathan Franzen, Michael Cunningham (specifically The Hours). Lastly, not really an author, but the screenwriter, Aaron Sorkin. I am such a huge fan of his writing; I have watched his films and TV series over and over, hoping to absorb some of his brilliance! I’ve even downloaded a few of his scripts to try to work out how he does it. I know he has influenced my dialogue especially.

If you were travelling and were told you could only take one book with you, what book would it be and why?

Oh my goodness! That’s a hard one. Maybe it would have to be a book I haven’t read yet … whatever has been recommended to me at the time, something on my ‘must read’ list. Last year it would have been Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. Or else, I might bring a classic I’ve never got around to reading (or finishing), because it’s been a bit daunting – Middlemarch, or maybe Anna Karenina. With nothing else to read, it might force me to stick with it!

What makes a book ‘too good to put down’?

The characters. While an intriguing hook might get you in, if you don’t engage with the characters on some level, then it’s difficult to stay with them for the rest of the journey.

What makes you put down a book without finishing it?

Following on from the previous question, if I’m not engaged with the characters, especially the protagonist. For this reason I have struggled to continue A Confederancy of Dunces, because I find it difficult to relate to Ignatius J. Reilly. The same goes for Quoyle in The Shipping News.

I gave up on a popular fiction book recently because it was written from too many perspectives. More than a third of the way in, I turned the page and another chapter began from yet another character’s perspective. I didn’t care enough about any of the characters at that point, let alone to have to take on another.

Do you have a favourite author? Who is it and what is it about their writing that draws you to them?

I can’t place Dickens over Austen; I am drawn to them both because of their skill in characterisation, their innate understanding of the human condition, their extraordinary command of the language, and their wonderful sense of humour. Even though their books were written in another century, about things that are out of my immediate experience, I can still relate.

If you had to list them, what would be your ‘top ten’ reads of all time (excluding the classics) and why?

No classics! So I’m not allowed to include Great Expectations, Pride and Prejudice or To Kill a Mockingbird? Oh well, I’ll try ...

The Hours by Michael Cunningham – I kept reading over paragraphs in awe of the language, the way he expresses emotions. And the way he gets into women’s heads is stunning.

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates – This novel was published in the year I was born, yet it has such an incredibly ‘modern’ perspective, and touched me deeply.

Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon – A little crazy, but so endearing.

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen – Again, it’s the characters! Such a cast, and there is a turn of phrase or an observation on every page that surprises.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov – How is he able to make you have sympathy for a pedophile?

The Road by Cormac McCarthy – A book I shouldn’t have had any interest in, that kept me rivetted. Achingly beautiful.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, for the way she was able to write from such different characters’ perspectives, about the Congo in the 60s. Just extraordinary.

Wild Swans by Jung Chan – I knew so little about modern Chinese history; a compelling, sweeping novel.

My Crowded Solitude by Jack McLaren – I read this at school and the images have stayed with me ever since. Apparently it’s not very PC any more, but it was of its time.

The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkein – This might count as a ‘classic’, but I’m including it anyway. It was a momentous book to read in my teens, and has stayed with me always. I was in love with Aragorn long before Viggo Mortenson played him in the film!

What was your 2010 ‘best read’? What was it that made it number one?

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. I simply love the way Franzen writes, and paints even unlikeable characters with such insight and intricacy and truth, that you find their humanity.

What do you think of the non-traditional publishing methods – eBooks etc? Do you think the new technology will encourage more people to read? Do you think there’s a future for print books?

I think eBooks will encourage another generation to keep reading into their adulthood. I think they may even be our best chance of ensuring this. Recently my teenage son discovered his favourite band had released a new album, so he immediately went on iTunes and bought it, and was playing it within minutes of first hearing of its existence. I thought he’d want to have the physical CD of a band he loved so much. But that didn’t even occur to him – the music was what he wanted.

I think we have to get over mourning the death of paper books, the smell, the feel, the object. I love my books, and I am from a generation that will probably always want to own a physical version of their favourite books. But I don’t think the generations after me are going to care as much. So if writers can provide their books in a format that people want to read, then all the better. I don’t see a time when print books won’t be available – not everyone will want to shell out for an eReader, no matter how inexpensive and ubiquitous they become. And maybe there will be smaller print runs, particularly of commercial fiction. We still have newspapers – thinned out, for sure, but they still exist; we still have Post offices, and cash, despite all the predictions of their demise.

The greatest thrill for me as a writer has always been – not holding the finished book in my hands, as people assume, but hearing from readers once they’ve read it. It’s the story that matters, content is King, however it happens to be delivered.

Dianne has been a teacher, trainer, counsellor, check-out chick, and even one of those annoying market researchers you avoid in shopping centres. Nowadays she tries not to annoy anyone by staying home and writing.

Find out more about Dianne here.

Melina Marchetta - Author Interview Series

2011-12-07T21:29:00.013+11:00

Melina Marchetta's first novel Looking For Alibrandi was published in 1992 and was released as a film in 2000 which she also wrote. Her novels have been published in 17 languages.

What authors/books did you read as a child? When did you first discover your love of books?

I was about 8. My mum is a reader and she passed down books that she had loved as a child. I especially remember Anne of Green Gables and the Naughtiest Girl books. I loved anything about orphans or kids sent to boarding schools. In primary, my favourite novel was Ivan Southall’s Hills End. I was one of the bin girls in Year 6 and we used to waste the whole afternoon burning school rubbish in the incinerator back in the day when that was allowed. But on the afternoons my teacher read Hills End the damage to the environment took second place and I’d be sitting right at the front, hanging off every word.

When did you first realise you were a writer?

I was sixteen. I remember sitting in typing class and handing my stories to the girl next to me, page by page. She’d always be impatient for more and it really helped with my typing speed.

What do you hope your readers will take away with them from reading your books?

A connection to the world I’ve created and a sense that I haven’t done this all before.

Do you find it difficult to read purely for pleasure? Does everything you read come under your ‘writer’ microscope?

The greatest casualty of writing and research has been reading. But I do try to squeeze in a couple of books between projects and especially on summer holidays. I’m one of those people who buy heaps of books and they stack up on my to-be-read pile and I stare at them and feel illiterate.

Do you have to avoid reading certain types of fiction while writing your own? Does what you read while writing have an effect on what you write? In what way?

I do tend to keep away from fantasy when I’m writing the Lumatere Chronicles, although in saying that, at the moment I’m writing and reading fantasy. What worries me the most is reading a novel and noticing a similar story strand or character. It makes me feel anxious and paranoid and then it stops me from writing the story. It gets a bit tricky.

Name five authors or books that have influenced or inspired your own writing in some way.

If I have to think of On the Jellicoe Road, Holes by Louis Sacher was a great inspiration with regards to its structure and intertwining stories. I loved what Joseph Heller did with chronology in Catch 22. Going back to Ivan Southall, Hills End, it’s about a bunch of kids taking on the role of adults under dramatic circumstances, and in Hard Times Charles Dickens has a line by Louisa, the daughter of the owner of the school, where she says, "I wonder..." and her very pragmatic father says, "Louisa, never wonder." The last line of the Jellicoe prologue is an ode to the Louisa line and sentiment.

If you were travelling and were told you could only take one book with you, what book would it be and why?

I can’t answer that so I’ll cheat and say I have a Kindle so I can take more than one.

What makes a book ‘too good to put down’?

I love flawed characters and the grey areas in their personalities. Oh and I do like a great love story. The relationship between Meyer Landsman and his estranged wife, Bina in The Yiddish Policeman’s Union is amazing.

What makes you put down a book without finishing it?

I’m not really good when I don’t like all or most of the characters in a novel, but in saying that, good use of language has got me through many a novel about unlikeable characters (The Inheritance of Loss is one novel that comes to mind). That’s not to say that I think likeable characters have to be a pre-requisite. It’s just a preference thing for me. And if I get a whiff of a love triangle being used merely as a way of providing the main conflict in the story, well that novel goes into the not-to-be-read pile.

If you had to list them, what would be your ‘top ten’ reads of all time (excluding the classics) and why?

The Broken Shore because I loved the character of Joe Cashin and the way Peter Temple nailed characterisation in one line.

The King of Attolia by Megan Whallen Turner, because of the way she explored the claustrophobia, intrigue and boredom of a royal court.

A Civil Campaign By Lois McMaster Bujold, because she set a novel on a planet in the future and makes it seem as if you’re walking into the constrained rules and regulations of an Austen novel including some pretty amazing ways of getting around the primo geniture laws.

The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon (see below and above)

Year of Wonders by Geraldine March. I travelled with Geraldine on an Asia Link tour the year before I wrote Finnikin and she spoke constantly about the need for vigorous research. Any time I’ve wanted to get lazy with research I think of how disappointed she’d be.

Obernewtyn by Isabelle Carmody. Because it was way before it’s time. Clever with great characters.

Nam Le’s The Boat. When I was writing The Piper’s Son, his short story, Halflead Bay, was a great guide on how to write relationships between men and boys. When it comes to dialogue, less is more.

I know I could be cheating a bit, but there doesn’t seem to be any rule against biography so I’m including the following two because they amazed me and I felt as if I was reading fiction.

The Silent Woman by Janet Malcolm

Joe Cinque’s Consolation by Helen Garner

What was your 2010 ‘best read’? What was it that made it number one?

Definitely The Yiddish Policeman’s Union. It walked a beautiful line between humour and pathos.

What do you think of the non-traditional publishing methods – eBooks etc? Do you think the new technology will encourage more people to read? Do you think there’s a future for print books?

For me, eBooks are great for when you’re travelling. Last year, I was downloading on long bus trips between Turkish towns. I also know friends with elderly parents who are loving the larger fonts and I remember hearing the writer Aiden Chambers speak about finally getting through War and Peace because he didn’t have to be intimidated by just how big that book was.

But it’s too soon to tell what it will all lead to. Every second person owning an iPAD does not equate to every second person reading eBooks. I especially don’t think eBooks will encourage people to read. If they weren’t reading before, they’re not going to start now. And the print book will always always be around. A friend in his 20s (supposedly the greatest consumer of eBooks) once said to me that there were few pleasures in life and one was holding a novel in his hand.

Melina Marchetta is a Sydney author. Her latest fantasy novel Froi of the Exile is Book Two in The Lumatere Chronicles, which began with Finnikin of the Rock. She is currently writing the last novel in the trilogy, Quintana of Charyn.

To find out more about Melina and her books go here.

Toni Jordan - Author Interview Series

2011-11-24T09:09:00.012+11:00

What authors/books did you read as a child? When did you first discover your love of books?

I've been reading for as long as I can remember. My earliest memories are of a book of children's poetry by Mary Gilmore (kind of strange--it wasn't a poetry-reading home) and the Faraway series by the awesome Enid Blyton.

When did you first realise you were a writer? What do you hope your readers will take away with them from reading your books?

When my first book, Addition, was picked up by publishers overseas, I thought to myself: 'Perhaps I do know what I'm doing.' I'd love it if readers enjoyed themselves, but found plenty to think about as well. I think readers can laugh and think at the same time.

Do you find it difficult to read purely for pleasure? Does everything you read come under your ‘writer’ microscope?

These days it's a very special book that enables me to lose myself. When I love something, I can't help thinking: 'How did she/he do that?'

Do you have to avoid reading certain types of fiction while writing your own? Does what you read while writing have an effect on what you write? In what way?

I couldn't possibly stop reading while I was writing. It takes me around 18 months to write a book. If I stopped reading fiction during that time, I'd go bonkers. I've never understood this 'polluting my voice' theory of reading.

Name five authors or books that have influenced or inspired your own writing in some way.

Sorry, must have six. The six people who make me want to give up: Peter Carey, Jonathan Franzen, Zadie Smith, Peter Temple, Richard Ford, AS Byatt. Freaks, every one.

If you were travelling and were told you could only take one book with you, what book would it be and why?

At the moment, it would be Freedom by Jonathon Franzen. I've been looking forward to it but haven't started yet. It’s a biggun.

What makes a book ‘too good to put down’?

I think this is what every writer would give their left kidney to know, but there's no easy answer. It's a magical thing, often unrelated to technical skill.

What makes you put down a book without finishing it?

I'm such an optimist that I firmly believe in giving a writer every chance. Who knows? Even if the book's a stinker, they might pull something out in the last ten pages that is so fantastic that the rest of the book falls into place. I've only given up half way once in living memory. Embarrassingly for me, it was Patrick White's The Living and the Dead. I really hated it and it made me incredibly angry, because I'd never read White before and I was so looking forward to it.

Do you have a favourite author? Who is it and what is it about their writing that draws you to them?

There's too many to mention. Apart from the six aliens I've listed earlier, I love Michelle de Kretser, Chris Womersley, Brian Castro...the list goes on. So many writers make me go weak at the knees.

If you had to list them, what would be your ‘top ten’ reads of all time (excluding the classics) and why?

Yikes. This changes on a daily basis. Excluding the classics, the books I try to read at least once a year are:

The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen

Possession - AS Byatt

Oscar and Lucinda - Peter Carey

White Teeth - Zadie Smith

Independence Day - Richard Ford

The Gathering - Anne Enright

The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje

The Acolyte - Thea Astley

Carpentaria - Alexis Wright

Flaubert's Parrot - Julian Barnes

What was your 2010 ‘best read’? What was it that made it number one?

AAARGH! Lisa you ask all the tough questions. I can't pick one because it was a tie: Peter Temple's Truth and Chris Womersley's Bereft. Wonderful, wonderful books. I don't write anything like this type of thing, but you can see the genius in them. They are both exquisite in every way.

What do you think of the non-traditional publishing methods – eBooks etc? Do you think the new technology will encourage more people to read? Do you think there’s a future for print books?

They'll be prying my pbooks out of my cold dead hands.

Find out more about Toni here.

Karen Miller - Author Interview Series

2011-11-10T08:10:00.004+11:00

Karen Miller was born in Vancouver, Canada, and lives in Sydney, Australia. She has loved books her whole life, and always dreamed of becoming a writer. The dream came true in 2005 with the Australian publication of her first fantasy novel, The Innocent Mage. Since then she's published 16 novels, including tie-ins for the Star Wars and Stargate universes. She also writes the Rogue Agent series, under the pen name K. E. Mills.

What authors/books did you read as a child? When did you first discover your love of books?

My introduction to speculative fiction came very early in primary school, when the librarian handed me a copy of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. At the same time I came across Enid Blyton's Secret Seven mysteries, and I've been in love with fantasy and crime fiction ever since! I also read Andre Norton, the Tom Swift series, Robin Jacques ... basically, if it wasn't nailed down I'd read it. The Billabong series, that's Australian fiction. I honestly don't remember a time when I didn't love stories, be they in books or on film and tv.

When did you first realise you were a writer? What do you hope your readers will take away with them from reading your books?

I knew I wanted to be a storyteller from the first time I had to write a composition in primary school. And then all the way through school, in English classes, I was always happiest when we had to make up a story. I was always happiest with my head buried in a book - I used to walk to school reading! I guess, when it comes to the people who read my work, I want them to finish a book thinking it was worth their time and their money. I want them to walk away satisfied emotionally. I want them to be glad that they read the story, and spent some time with those characters.

Do you find it difficult to read purely for pleasure? Does everything you read come under your ‘writer’ microscope?

Yes, reading for pleasure is much much harder now. I think that's inevitable, in the same way that anyone who tries to do in leisure what they do for a living can't ever be free of involvement. You get too close to the mechanics. So for me, when I pick up a book, the inner editor is always waiting to pick up the red pen. That's why I treasure my favourite authors, who allow me to enjoy reading without ever thinking to look at the work critically.

Do you have to avoid reading certain types of fiction while writing your own? Does what you read while writing have an effect on what you write? In what way?

I can't read in my genre while I'm writing. And since I've done nothing but write for the last few years, I'm pretty behind on the reading! I can still read outside my genre, I can read romance and crime and still be enormously entertained. But reading fantasy/sf while I'm writing it is way too distracting. Luckily, I don't seem to be influenced by what I'm reading while I'm writing. It's a relief, because I couldn't stand not reading at all!

Name five authors or books that have influenced or inspired your own writing in some way.

The author who has had the most influence over me and my work is the late Dorothy Dunnett. She was a spectacular storyteller, a gifted stylist and a genius with character. I learn so much from re-reading her work, which I try to do every year. CS Lewis, whose Narnia books kindled my love affair with speculative fiction. The late Kage Baker, whose work was so under appreciated while she lived, and whose imagination was amazing. Georgette Heyer, who teaches a master class on how to seamlessly marry story with research in every book. Reginald Hill, whose crime fiction is a fabulous blend of intelligence, sly humour and searing narrative skill.

If you were travelling and were told you could only take one book with you, what book would it be and why?

Probably the final book of Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles, Checkmate. Because it's the culmination of the whole saga and it's wonderful.

What makes a book ‘too good to put down’?

Riveting characters and a compelling story told with grace and style.

What makes you put down a book without finishing it?

First and foremost, clunky execution. If the writing itself is flat or clumsy I can't do it. Usually I can't get past the first page. If story logic is missing, if the characters are doing stupid things, or I feel like my intelligence is being insulted, or if the story's going on and on and nothing's happening. That's when I stop. And when I don't care. If I just don't care about the characters and their troubles, I walk away.

Do you have a favourite author? Who is it and what is it about their writing that draws you to them?

That's hard. There are so many authors whose work I adore. But again, I have to say Dorothy Dunnett. Let me put it this way: back in the 80s, when I found her Lymond books, I was working on a horse stud in England. Hunt saboteurs broke into the property and set fire to a horse box. There was a great deal of excitement, as you can imagine. I stayed in bed reading Dunnett. What was happening to Francis, in that moment, was more important to me than anything else, including my safety! Which might mean I'm crazy, yes, but that is the power of her work, to me. She has it all: breathtaking characters, high stakes, and magnificent execution. She was fearless in her storytelling. She broke my heart again and again, and it still breaks whenever I re-read her work.

If you had to list them, what would be your ‘top ten’ reads of all time (excluding the classics) and why?

In no particular order, just as I think of them...

A Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.

A Catskill Eagle by Robert B Parker.

The following, by Terry Pratchett: Guards, Guards; Jingo; Lords and Ladies.

Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters.

The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer.

Hot Money by Dick Francis.

In the Garden of Iden by Kage Baker.

Born in Fire by Nora Roberts.

Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold.

And yes, that's 12, but I've barely scratched the surface! For me, what makes these books outstanding even though they cross genres, is that in each case I am completely swept away by the stories. The real world vanishes and I am caught up in the world each author has created. And I am completely emotionally engaged. I care, deeply, about the characters and their lives. And these are books I return to again and again, because I love them passionately and it doesn't matter that I've read them before. I read them again and I'm totally swept away, as though it's the first time.

What was your 2010 ‘best read’? What was it that made it number one?

Cold Magic by Kate Elliott. Beautiful, beautiful writing, great characters, an exciting story. Biggest thing, though, is that even though it's told in the first person - and I don't like first person narratives unless it's crime fiction - within a page I didn't care. I was just carried away by the story.

What do you think of the non-traditional publishing methods – eBooks etc? Do you think the new technology will encourage more people to read? Do you think there’s a future for print books?

Well, I can see that ebooks would work for a lot of people. I'm not really techy, I like the real thing, but they're a part of the landscape. Basically, any delivery mechanism that allows people to read is fine with me. I just wish people wouldn't pirate them and then crow as though they're doing something noble. Theft isn't noble, it's theft, and it's grubby. Yes, I think print books will go on. I think stories will go on, full stop. But then I'm an incurable optimist!

Find out more about Karen and her books here.

NaNoWriMo - Why I won't be writing 50K words this month.

2011-11-03T08:52:00.013+11:00

I may need to bow out of NaNoWriMo.

I thought I'd use the redrafting of my novel as part of my wordcount (only using the 'new' words) but I'm already noticing sloppy writing as I try to clock up some NaNo words. I think I should give it a miss this year while I concentrate on quality rather than quantity.

Good luck to all my friends doing NaNo this year. I envy you the helter-skelter race to the finish line, the buzz of writing fast without looking back. Next year I hope to finally have this novel finished and be ready for a fresh start on a new project. NaNo will be just the kick in the pants a new project will need. So NaNo is definitely pencilled in for 2012.

Hope to see some of you there!

(For those of you who are wondering "What is NaNoWriMo?" it's a month-long writing challenge where participants try to write 50,000 words in 30 days. For more information click here.)

Lisa Heidke - Author Interview Series

2011-10-28T07:50:00.006+11:00

Lisa Heidke writes contemporary women’s fiction. Her first book, Lucy Springer Gets Even (Allen & Unwin, 2009), was quickly followed by What Kate Did Next (2010). Her third novel, Claudia’s Big Break, was published in January 2011.

What authors/books did you read as a child? When did you first discover your love of books?

My mother started reading to me when I was very small so I don’t remember a time when books weren’t a part of my life. Mum read Australian classics to me like Snuggle Pot and Cuddle Pie, Blinky Bill and The Magic Pudding.

Enid Blyton was the most prominent author I remember when I was a child. I loved The Magic Faraway TreeThe Naughtiest Girl in School, The Wishing Chair, The Famous Five, etc.

When did you first realise you were a writer? What do you hope your readers will take away with them from reading your books?

That’s a difficult question. I have always written because I trained as a journalist but I guess I realised I was a writer when I started wanting to create my own fictional worlds. I love having the power to make characters act and talk in ways they would never dare in real life.

Generally, I write about women in their thirties going through crises and personal upheaval so I guess I’d like people to read my books and realise that there’s light at the end of the tunnel (if they’re going through a tunnel). If women reading my books are already living prefect lives, then I’d hope they’d be relieved they are not living my characters lives!

That all sounds very gloomy...in fact I write with a humorous bent, so even though my main character might be going through a divorce there’s enough humour in the story to stop it from becoming a tragedy.

Do you find it difficult to read purely for pleasure? Does everything you read come under your ‘writer’ microscope?

No, I love reading for pleasure. I’ll admit when I am reading books in my genre, I’ll think, ‘now why didn’t I write that’ or I might analyse how the author has created the tension or woven several strands of a plot together. When I’m reading outside my genre, for example— crime, fantasy, historical romance etc, it’s entirely for pleasure. I love being swept away by a story and transported to another time.

Do you have to avoid reading certain types of fiction while writing your own? Does what you read while writing have an effect on what you write? In what way?

I avoid reading books in my genre when I’m writing, so that I am not indirectly influenced or led astray. To completely get away from what I’m writing, I’ll read memoirs, historical romance or the classics like Pride and Prejudice.

Name five authors or books that have influenced or inspired your own writing in some way.

Marian Keyes would have to be number one. I love her books – her style of writing, humour and characters appeal to me.

Stephen king. Even though I don’t read his fiction, his book ‘On Writing’ has been an enormous help to me.

Then of course there are the classic writers like Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen and Dorothy Parker, who continue to inspire me.

If you were travelling and were told you could only take one book with you, what book would it be and why?

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams. In case I get lost – and it’s laugh-out-loud funny.

What makes a book ‘too good to put down’?

When I get swept away BY the story...when every page is a page turner and I am thinking to myself...I can’t go to sleep yet...just one more chapter...I have to read what happens next. And then I fall asleep thinking about the book and wondering what is going to happen in the following scene or chapter.

What makes you put down a book without finishing it?

I try not to do that. When I pick up a novel, I do my best to see it through to the end. Having said that, if the characters aren’t engaging or I can’t relate to them for whatever reason, I do find it a struggle to continue.

Do you have a favourite author? Who is it and what is it about their writing that draws you to them?

When it comes to modern day authors, I would say Marian Keyes. I like her style. However the more I read Australian authors, the more I enjoy them. Women like Kirsty Eagar, Kylie Ladd, Fleur McDonald, Sara Foster, Anita Heiss, Helene Young, Liane Moriarty, and Fiona Palmer are truly talented authors writing interesting and original stories.

If you had to list them, what would be your ‘top ten’ reads of all time (excluding the classics) and why?

This an almost impossible task and my top ten changes all the time. However, this is my list for today:

The Book Thief, Markus Zusak

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold

The Time Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger

The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger

1984, George Orwell

What Alice Forgot, Liane Moriarty

One Day, David Nicholls

High Infidelity, Nick Hornby

Rachel’s Holiday, Marian Keyes

What was your 2010 ‘best read’? What was it that made it number one?

One Day by David Nicholls. It’s a love story about Emma and Dexter, who have an end of university one night fling - and about how their lives intersect and parallel over the next twenty years. It’s funny, wise, sad and poignant. One Day is definitely one of those books that after I finished reading it, I thought, why couldn’t I have written this?

What do you think of the non-traditional publishing methods – eBooks etc? Do you think the new technology will encourage more people to read? Do you think there’s a future for print books?

I don’t know a lot about the eBook market but I do know most books being published these days, including my own, are available as eBooks. As far as I am concerned, anything that gets more people reading or makes it easier for people to access books is good.

I definitely believe in the future of print books. Nothing beats holding a book in your hands when you’re reading in bed at night. (I have to confess I’m one of those people who turn the top corner of the pages over!)

In February 2011, Claudia’s Big Break, was listed in SMH’s Spectrum as one of the Top Ten Australian Best Sellers.

You can find out more about Lisa and check out her blog, at www.lisaheidke.com

You may also like to follow her on Twitter @lisaheidke

Fran Cusworth - Author Interview Series

2011-10-14T22:15:00.004+11:00

Fran Cusworth is an author and freelance journalist who has written for The Age, Herald Sun and The Australian.

What authors/books did you read as a child? When did you first discover your love of books?

I was an early reader and I remember my father growing exasperated at how quickly I would finish books and ask for more. I would wake in the night and read, and my parents finally took the light bulbs out of my room to stop me – it sounds mean now, but I think they were worried I wasn’t sleeping. The first book I ever read was Jaws; after that my family realised I could read chapter books and furnished me with more appropriate reading matter. I loved Enid Blyton, CS Lewis, the poetry of Walter De La Mare, Lewis Carroll, and any Australian books – the Billabong series, Seven Little Australians.

When did you first realise you were a writer? What do you hope your readers will take away with them from reading your books?

I decided very young I was a writer, and I started keeping a journal at about age eight. The good thing about starting early is that you have a couple of decades to work through the deadly, terrible, self obsessed stuff, and I have all sorts of short stories about favourite hiding places, or my best friend looking at me the wrong way, or who did the best jump on the trampoline. I really can’t remember a time when I didn’t feel certain I would be a writer, and being a keen reader helped this.

I hope my readers will be absorbed, and escape their every day lives for a while when they read my books. I’m not seeking to change the world through my books, I just want to entertain, and at the most reflect some aspect of the reader’s life back at them in a new way.

Do you find it difficult to read purely for pleasure? Does everything you read come under your ‘writer’ microscope?

I read a great deal for pleasure, but my writer radar is always turned on. I find a lot to inspire me. I just finished Jonathon Franzen’s Freedom, and then read Corrections, and while I absolutely loved them, I was very envious that he could write about family so humourously and cleverly, while pinpointing society so accurately at the same time.

Do you have to avoid reading certain types of fiction while writing your own? Does what you read while writing have an effect on what you write? In what way?

I should avoid reading certain types of fiction while I’m writing, but I don’t. I’m always writing, so I would never read if I did that, and reading is too enjoyable to stop. I am very affected by what I read – the last Geraldine Brooks book I read, I decided I had to have a historical thread through my novel and it took a couple of months to realise that was impossible for the novel I was writing. I read Toni Jordan’s second novel Fall Girl, and felt I wanted my book to be more funny. Then I read The Road by Cormac McCarthy, and just about felt like never bothering to write again, it was so perfect. I certainly should stop reading. But I won’t.

Name five authors or books that have influenced or inspired your own writing in some way.

Well, as described above, most books I read. Even bad ones inspire me with what I don’t want to do. I would have to say Geraldine Brooks, Anne Tyler, Toni Jordan, Franzen, Jane Austen.

If you were travelling and were told you could only take one book with you, what book would it be and why?

A compendium of Jane Austen’s six novels. Or The Forsyte Saga. Or The Bone People.

What makes a book ‘too good to put down’?

Wondering what will happen next. Providing a world you want to return to. Humour. Likeable characters.

What makes you put down a book without finishing it?

Pretension. Boredom. Literary high-falutin’ showing off where nothing happens and the reader is treated with disdain.

Do you have a favourite author? Who is it and what is it about their writing that draws you to them?

I like a lot of English classics: Thomas Hardy, George Eliot, Austen – I think I’m drawn to the wordiness of their writing style and the focus on morality.

If you had to list them, what would be your ‘top ten’ reads of all time and why?

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.

Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie.

The Bone People by Keri Hulme.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy.

Middlemarch by George Eliot (or Mary Anne Evans).

Ridley Walker by Russell Hoban.

Mitten Strings For God by Katrina Kenison.

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.

On Beauty by Zadie Smith.

What was your 2010 ‘best read’? What was it that made it number one?

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. I loved the language and I found the fictionalised life of Thomas Cromwell, PA to Henry Eighth, fascinating.

What do you think of the non-traditional publishing methods – eBooks etc? Do you think the new technology will encourage more people to read? Do you think there’s a future for print books?

I think eBooks will probably take off in a big way over the next year, and maybe even people I know will be buying them – they’re not yet. I just had floor to ceililng wall to wall bookshelves installed in my home, so I won’t be getting an eBook just yet I don’t think. I think it’s just a medium, I doubt it will change how much people read.

Fran Cusworth is a Melbourne based journalist who has published two novels, The Love Child and Hopetoun Wives, both with Penguin Books.

Margo Lanagan - Author Interview Series

2011-09-29T11:06:00.007+10:00

Margo Lanagan is a four-time World Fantasy Award winner (for best collection, short story, novel and novella), and has won and been shortlisted for many other awards.

What authors/books did you read as a child? When did you first discover your love of books?

I was the third of four children, so I had two readers going ahead of me. There wasn’t a time when books weren’t part of my life. My mum read to us at bedtime all through our childhood.

I read, and continue to read, all over the place in a very undisciplined way. As a child I remember enjoying fairly white-bread books from the US (Elizabeth Enright’s Melendy family series, Eleanor Estes’ Moffatt books) and the UK (Noel Streatfeild), and perhaps slightly-less-white-bread Australian books (Patricia Wrightson, Nan Chauncy). Tove Jansson’s Moomin books, the Narnia chronicles and Alan Garner’s books were favourites.

When did you first realise you were a writer?

I started writing (poetry) for my own interest when I was about 14. I don’t think I thought of myself as a writer, though, for another decade or so, after which I’d published a dozen or so poems and received a Literature Board grant and residency at the Nancy Keesing Studio in Paris. Even then, being a writer wasn’t something I ‘realised I was’ as much as it was a goal that I set myself.

What do you hope your readers will take away with them from reading your books?

A strong emotional impression; an atmosphere they can’t shake off for a while. Curiosity about what I might try next.

Do you find it difficult to read purely for pleasure? Does everything you read come under your ‘writer’ microscope?

I don’t have a problem finding books that are pleasurable to read. Sometimes it’s difficult to pick up a novel and read for pleasure after a day of reading grant applications or Vogel entries, but that’s more burnout than writerly-microscope problems. I certainly have lower tolerance for sloppy or inexpert writing than I used to.

Do you have to avoid reading certain types of fiction while writing your own? Does what you read while writing have an effect on what you write? In what way?

Undoubtedly what I read affects what I write. Sometimes there’s a kind of stain across my own writing that I can identify as the influence of my reading at the time; it can be removed during revision, though, and I don’t swear off particular styles of writing if I’m enjoying them. The effect of other writers’ work can just as often be positive as negative, adding a different energy to a story I’m working on. It tends to be more at the idea-generation level than an echo of their writing style, though.

Name five authors or books that have influenced or inspired your own writing in some way.

Russell Hoban’s Riddley Walker and Greer Gilman’s Cloud and Ashes show me how far you can push language and still retain sense and story. Anne Tyler and Ursula Dubosarsky are great at creating characters I get attached to. Tove Jansson in both her children’s and her adult books is a wonderful inhabitant of the worlds she creates, and her fine, serious, pared-back style is an inspiration.

If you were travelling and were told you could only take one book with you, what book would it be and why?

I’d take the latest issue of The Lifted Brow magazine, because it’s always jam-packed with so much good and interesting material, it’d last a while and would provide something for whatever mood I found myself in.

What makes a book ‘too good to put down’?

Characters whose fate I care about and whose company I enjoy (and I can enjoy thoroughly nasty characters just as much as amiable ones); a strong plot; a setting that the author has clearly spent a lot of love constructing; confident, correct, flexible use of language and good control of shades of meaning.

What makes you put down a book without finishing it?

The opposites of the above, all of which can be summed up in a word: boredom.

Do you have a favourite author? Who is it and what is it about their writing that draws you to them?

I don’t really have a favourite author, or even a favourite genre; within the constraints of what’s ‘too good to put down’ I like to roam widely from literary to all the different kinds of speculative fiction, and also take in some crime, non-fiction and poetry.

If you had to list them, what would be your ‘top ten’ reads of all time (excluding the classics) and why?

Hm, I don’t like to be too definitive about these things, as some reads are good for some times and not for others. However, here’s a stab:

Anne Tyler, Noah’s Compass (beautifully drawn characters in a strong, relevant story characteristically tinged with both sadness and humour)

George Saunders, Pastoralia (well, anything Saunders writes is so much his own thing – odd, funny, tragic and oblique)

Anne Enright, Taking Pictures (dark humour, lean storytelling)

William Mayne, Earthfasts (a tense and creepy story, set in a place the author knows like the back of his hand)

Kelly Link, Magic for Beginners (I’m happy to follow wherever Kelly’s distinctively serious, fantastical stories take me)

Jennifer Stevenson, Trash Sex Magic (a lush, steamy world I wanted to stay in for a lot longer)

W. G. Sebald, Austerlitz (or any Sebald, really – it’s just a privilege to see inside his brain)

Gail Godwin, The Good Husband (for intelligence and humanity)

Ursula Dubosarsky The Red Shoe (a decent self-respecting Australian story, peopled as all Ursula’s novels are by worried children and worrying grown-ups)

William Least Heat-Moon, Blue Highways (a lovely rich journey around the backroads of the US)

What was your 2010 ‘best read’? What was it that made it number one?

John Crowley’s Little, Big. The worldbuilding was so complex, yet he made it seem so effortless; there was a wonderful array of characters; the mood of it was so dreamy and magical, but kept cutting back to real-world details that anchored the story in modern times. I just thoroughly enjoyed inhabiting that book.

What do you think of the non-traditional publishing methods – eBooks etc? Do you think the new technology will encourage more people to read? Do you think there’s a future for print books?

I welcome eBooks and look forward to the difference they’ll make to my cabin baggage and my daypack. I don’t think new technologies can help but attract new segments of the population to reading who found print books too cumbersome. But I don’t think we’re going to get rid of print books any time soon, and I think they’ll happily co-exist for a long while yet. Children’s picture books, for example, don’t translate easily into electronic forms, and I’m pretty sure children brought up on print picture books will always have an attachment to print formats.

Margo has published four collections of short stories, White Time, Black Juice, Red Spikes and Yellowcake, and a novel, Tender Morsels. She grew up in the Hunter Valley and Melbourne, and now lives in Sydney and works as a technical writer. She is currently working on a novel about selkies based on her award-winning novella, Sea-Hearts.

Margo blogs at http://amongamidwhile.blogspot.com/

Katharine Kerr - Author Interview Series

2011-09-17T21:40:00.009+10:00

What authors/books did you read as a child? When did you first discover your love of books?

Anything I could get my hands on. I learned to read at home when I was four. I kept on reading from then on. My grandmother and I would walk to our local library and load up on a week’s reading at a time. I don’t remember all the authors at this lapse of time, but I did love horse books in particular. Also classics like Mary Poppins, Wind in the Willows, the Moffats series - I indentified with Jane Moffat, odd of me since I was an only child - and various other chapter books.

When did you first realise you were a writer? What do you hope your readers will take away with them from reading your books?

When I was 8, I started writing “books” on bits of paper and stapling them together. When I was 13, I discovered SF and decided then that I would write SF and Fantasy when I grew up. Oddly enough, I have stuck by that decision.

Good stories first, involving interesting characters that seem real, and then something to think about after the story’s over, such as moral issues or bits of history.

Do you find it difficult to read purely for pleasure? Does everything you read come under your ‘writer’ microscope?

Yes, it is difficult. I tend to analyze as I read and then think about the book after I’m done. If the book was less than sucessful, I think about what I might have done differently if I were writing it. If it was excellent, I wallow in envy for a bit.

Do you have to avoid reading certain types of fiction while writing your own? Does what you read while writing have an effect on what you write? In what way?

Not any more. When I was first working on the Deverry series, I did avoid other epic fantasies, but fortunately that didn’t last. The reading that does affect my writing is the research I do. Even for the current Urban Fantasy that I’m writing, I do research, mostly into magical traditions, but also into details - such as Ari’s gun collection in the Nola O’Grady books.

Name five authors or books that have influenced or inspired your own writing in some way.

No fantasy writer can pretend Tolkien didn’t influence them. Some try, but they’re silly. Proust’s interweavings have definitely influenced the way I like to tell a story, and Henry James’ examinations of consciousness have, oddly enough, influenced the way I depict magical actions. Heinlein’s early “boy’s books” fired up my desire to write SF that had real women in it. Ursula Le Guin showed me that this could be done.

What makes a book ‘too good to put down’?

Believeable characters whose story interests me. They don’t have to be in mortal danger or anything like that. An emotional tangle or moral dilemma will do.

What makes you put down a book without finishing it?

Paper thin characters and too much Raw Exposition. In particular, lots of exposition crammed into dialogue.

Do you have a favourite author? Who is it and what is it about their writing that draws you to them?

Marcel Proust. I love the minute dissection of character and the dream-like evocation of a France that was long-gone even in his own day.

What was your 2010 ‘best read’? What was it that made it number one?

Kate Elliot’s Cold Magic. The world-building is amazing, nominally steampunk, but it goes well beyond that set of cliches. Magic and politics are mixed together in a really intriguing way.

What do you think of the non-traditional publishing methods – eBooks etc? Do you think the new technology will encourage more people to read? Do you think there’s a future for print books?

I'm afraid I don't have a crystal ball . I have no idea what the answers to these questions are. No one will really know for another 20 years, probably - not that this lack of real information is going to stop people from spouting off on the subject.

Katharine Kerr describes herself as an inveterate loafer, baseball addict, and rock and roll fan, who begrudgingly spares time to write novels. She is perhaps best known for writing the Deverry series of historical fantasies or fantastical histories, depending on your point of view. She lives near San Francisco with her husband of many years and some cats.

You can find out more about Katharine here.

Ben Chandler - Author Interview Series

2011-09-10T16:25:00.021+10:00

Ben Chandler's first novel, Quillblade: Volume One of the Voyages of the Flying Dragon, was published in 2010, and the sequel, Beast Child, is available now!

What authors/books did you read as a child? When did you first discover your love of books?

I’ve been reading for as long as I can remember, and probably even a bit before that, so I don’t have an actual memory of discovering my love of books. It’s just always been there. I first realised that loving books was something special when I was about 7 or 8, and it only occurred to me then because I noticed that not everyone enjoyed staying inside the library during school lunchtimes to read. I read a lot as a kid, so a list of authors/books would go on for a while, but I do have vivid memories of being terrified by the ‘original’ Brothers Grimm tales (i.e. the scary, non-Disney versions), and of loving Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story (the first Really Big Book I ever read on my own).

When did you first realise you were a writer? What do you hope your readers will take away with them from reading your books?

I’ve probably been a writer almost as long as I’ve been a reader, but it took me a while to realise exactly what I was doing when I was daydreaming (I do this a lot) and scribbling my stories down on paper. It didn’t occur to me that you could actually be a writer until I was about 16. It took another few years of determined scribbling before I felt game enough to call myself a writer. I hope readers enjoy visiting the worlds I create in my books. I want them to want to spend time there, and I mean that literally. I want my readers to imagine themselves into my world, to create themselves as characters within the scope of my worlds, to interact with my characters and imagine how they would handle things if they were the heroes. That’s what I do when I read really great books. I’d love to think that I could inspire that sort of imaginative journey in my readers.

Do you find it difficult to read purely for pleasure? Does everything you read come under your ‘writer’ microscope?

For me, this is a bit of a false dichotomy. Some people see reading and writing as a spectrum, with full critical scrutiny at one end (the ‘writer microscope’ frame of mind) and pure reading pleasure at the other. The idea seems to be that the more you scrutinise a piece of writing, the less you’ll enjoy it. The flip side of this, if you take it to its extreme conclusion, is that you have to switch your brain off in order to enjoy reading! This just isn’t how I read, and I suspect this isn’t really how most people read. My writer microscope actually heightens my appreciation of what I’m reading, so I don’t find it difficult to read for pleasure. If anything, it just provides another level of enjoyment, an ability to peek behind the curtain, as it were.

Do you have to avoid reading certain types of fiction while writing your own? Does what you read while writing have an effect on what you write? In what way?

Yes, no, and sometimes. This is a really hard question for me, as I don’t have a set way of doing things. For some books, I try to read as widely as possible within the genre I’m writing in as I can. Sometimes, it’s the opposite, and I have to read things that are completely different. Rarely, but occasionally, I don’t read at all when I’m writing. It just depends on what I feel I need at the time. What I read definitely impacts what I write, and sometimes I crave that influence, and sometimes I shun it. It’s the old ‘whatever works for you’ thing, but I’ll add ‘at the time’ and ‘given the circumstances’ as well.

Name five authors or books that have influenced or inspired your own writing in some way.

Just five?! That’s a tough one!

David Eddings’ early works for his grasp of genre, his humour, his characters, and his wonderful worlds.

JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings – ‘nuf said.

Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story for all its magic.

Neil Gaiman’s work. All of it, including his graphic novels / comics, for his contribution to contemporary mythology.

Robin Hobb’s work, particularly her assassin books – the greatest first person fantasy series ever written. Ever.

If you were travelling and were told you could only take one book with you, what book would it be and why?

Isn’t that what e-readers are for?! Seriously, though, this is the hardest question you could ask a writer. I guess it would have to be The Lord of the Rings, not because it’s my favourite book ever written (it isn’t), but because I could read and re-read it over and over again, and it always takes me ages to get through (I’ve read it through about a dozen times already, and I could easily read it a dozen more).

What makes a book ‘too good to put down’?

Interesting characters. Magical world. Engaging plot. Sounds simple when you put it like that, doesn’t it? It’s sometimes difficult to find that magic combination of the three, though, and it always comes down to the Big 3 (I’m tempted to throw in a DC Universe Superman/Batman/Wonder Woman analogy here, but I won’t): character, setting, and plot. I might be tempted to add ‘conceit’ to that list in the case of speculative fiction (i.e. the Big Idea underlining a book), but too often spec fic writers rely solely on the Big Idea to the detriment of the Big 3, and no matter how clever or cool the Big Idea is, if any of the other 3 are lacking, I’ll put it down. Really great prose is also a plus, but if it is all just wonderful sentences without the Big 3, again, I’ll put it down (and maybe pick up a book of quotes).

What makes you put down a book without finishing it?

See above. Also, if I’m bored I’ll put a book down. Life is too short and there are too many great books out there for me to waste time reading something I don’t want to read.

Do you have a favourite author? Who is it and what is it about their writing that draws you to them?

I really don’t have a favourite author, as such, because I read widely and enjoy lots of different kinds of literature, I suppose. I could easily list a couple dozen, but then I’d have left out another couple dozen, so I’m not even going to attempt it…

If you had to list them, what would be your ‘top ten’ reads of all time (excluding the classics) and why?

Excluding classics? What do you class as a classic? Oh, dear. Okay. Let me think… Hmmm… I’m going to have to include series. Each of the entries on this list has the Big 3 I was talking about earlier, and they each have that special something that earns them a prominent place on my bookshelves.

Gaiman’s Neverwhere (quirky, magical and real, and with great characters).

Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (I guess this is probably a ‘classic’, but I can’t resist adding it, for all the obvious reasons).

Ende’s The Neverending Story (also a ‘classic’, but it had such a profound effect on my 8-9 year old brain for its sheer imaginativeness and for teaching me to put myself in the story).

Hobb’s The Farseer Trilogy (Best. First person fantasy. Ever.).

Michael Pryor’s The Laws of Magic (Everything YA Steampunk Fantasy should be. Full of Big Ideas that don’t get in the way of the Big 3. Everyone should have a friend like George).

Lian Hearn’s Otori series (Everything is better with ninjas. Okay, it’s also a wonderful story with that perfect mix of the grand and the personal set against a fictionalised medieval fantasy Japan).

Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies series (To me, this series is what YA literature is all about. Full of moral dilemmas, action, drama, great characters, and twists).

Shaun Tan’s The Arrival (Such a beautiful story told without words. A master illustrator at the top of his game telling a story that should resonate with us all).

Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake (One of my favourite works of speculative fiction. Another Big Idea book, but the Big 3 still shine through).

Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen (If you like comics / graphic novels, especially superhero ones, then you have to read this. An often searing look at the superhero genre and the society that spawned it). *Disclaimer: If you ask me tomorrow you’ll probably get a different list!

What was your 2010 ‘best read’? What was it that made it number one?

I can’t remember when it was published, but I first read Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman, Andy Kubert, and Richard Isanove in 2010. It’s a graphic novel that places the superheroes of the Marvel Universe in the Elizabethan court. Think mutant ‘witch’ hunts and the dawning of a new world in a dinosaur-infested North America and you’ll start to get the general idea. A great reimagining of the Marvel Universe with bold characters and beautiful, dynamic illustrations. You couldn’t ask for more from a graphic novel.

What do you think of the non-traditional publishing methods – eBooks etc? Do you think the new technology will encourage more people to read? Do you think there’s a future for print books?

I do think e-readers are encouraging more people to read. I know a number of people who weren’t traditionally ‘readers’ who have now embraced the new technology and are reading more than ever. Personally, I don’t like reading books on an e-reader (I’m a bibliophile), and I don’t see this new technology as the death of the printed book, but I do think it’s going to bring books and reading to more people, and that’s a great thing.

Ben loves heroes, villains, comic books, and video games, and he believes you can learn more from watching cartoons than you can from the news. Like all fantasy writers, Ben has a cat. His cat is named Loki. It’s possible Loki is the reincarnation of the Norse God of Mischief, but Ben hopes this is just a flight of his fancy. In 2010 Ben was awarded the Colin Thiele Creative Writing Scholarship from Carclew Youth Arts Board and in 2011 was awarded a grant by Arts SA to work on a YA urban fantasy novel set in Adelaide.

Find out more about Ben here.

Jennifer Byrne in conversation with Christos Tsiolkas

2011-09-05T19:55:00.014+10:00

I wasn’t able to attend as many sessions at this year’s Melbourne Writers Festival as I would have liked, but I was fortunate enough to be in the studio audience for ‘Jennifer Byrne Presents’ – not her usual ‘First Tuesday Book Club’ but a one on one interview/conversation with Christos Tsiolkas.

Byrne was comedian, interrogator, therapist, confidant; she asked the probing questions, pushed Tsiolkas past his comfort zone and into more personal territory. The interview had depth and interest and wasn’t just about ‘The Slap’ though, with the miniseries based on his award-winning novel coming to the ABC later this year in an eight part drama, it was discussed.

For those of you who have read ‘The Slap’, whether you loved it or hated it I’m sure it sparked some thought, if not debate, on gender, sexuality, ethnicity and the raising of children. ‘The Slap’ is not about the actual ‘slap’ at all; as Tsiolkas said, it was merely a device used “to explore how badly we treat each other”, even those – or perhaps especially those, we profess to love.

Tsiolkas says he writes “to make sense of what is going on in the world; to better understand it.” When he wrote ‘The Slap’ he drew on his life for his craft. He was, in his own words, an ‘outsider’ – gay, migrant, poor. As Byrne pointed out he is no longer ‘outsider’, the readers have embraced him, also he’s loaded. He acknowledges that after the huge success of the book and the change in his economic circumstances he feels he can no longer use that voice with the same authenticity.

He talked about the different stages of his writing life, how he is now in the ‘middle passage’ and the writer he is now, reading the writer he was in his twenties, can see the mistakes and the rawness of the writing, but is also envious of the power and the energy within it.

Once an activist, though “never a very good one”, Tsiolkas is still passionate about today’s issues, in particular – refugees and asylum seekers. He talked about first-world problems and the insidious undercurrent of the Australian culture; how our sense of entitlement prevents us from giving thanks/showing gratitude for our good fortune. “We want the very best of life,” he said, “the best of everything, but we don’t want to have to do anything for it.”

‘First-world problems’ – he said this several times and for me it says, get some perspective; stop taking life (and yourself) so seriously; show a little gratitude for the freedoms you enjoy. Compared to many places in the world, and he talked about his homeland in Greece, which is really hurting at the moment, Australia really is lucky.

One last note.

Byrne is a consummate interviewer - the information she brought forth from Tsiolkas, at times laboriously (he wasn't the most articulate interviewee; many writers aren't), was deep and personal and as a writer myself I left with something special; the desire to write. In short, he made me want to write, but more importantly, he made me want to write more deeply.