author, poet, satirist, social commentator

 
 

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS



Questions about being Anita


• Where did you grow up and how was your childhood?


I grew up in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, Matraville – between Long Bay Jail, ICI Industrial Estate and the Malabar Sewerage works. I still live there. I had a wonderful childhood, playing cricket, tennis and footy in the street with the kids of the neighbourhood. Mum made lots of chocolate cakes and she worked at the drive-in so we went to see films a lot. Dad was always working in the garage and making things around the house. He used to get on his bike, put one kid on the front, one on the back one on his shoulders and we’d squeal as he rode up and down the street. We always ate dinner together, and there wasn’t a TV in the kitchen then, and no play station. My parents were / are very family oriented. There was a lot of love in my house. Of course, we fought too, but that’s what all kids do, don’t they?

• Where is your family from?


My Mother was born on Erambie Mission in Cowra – Wiradjuri country. Most of her family is scattered around Tumut, Brungle, Griffith and Sydney. My father’s family are all from Austria. He was from a little village called St Michael in the Lungau, Salzburg.

• Did you have a nice childhood?


I had a fantastic childhood and would not trade it for the world. I had a strong, loving family home life, we all sat at the dinner table together every night and talked about our days. No one sat in front of the TV ever. There was always someone to talk to and / or play with.

• What kind of jobs have you had?


First job when I was still at school was at a chicken shop. Also worked part time in a dept store. First job out of University was writing comic scripts for Streewize Comics. I then set up my own consultancy business doing social research and media /PR. I went back to Uni and did my PhD and continued to do research projects. In 2001 I landed a job as Communications Adviser for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Board of the Australia Council. In 2004 I started at Macquarie University as Writer in Residence and in 2005 moved into Deputy Director role.

• What did you want to be when you were younger?


An airhostess, a nun, a movie star, a journalist.

• How did that change over time?


I grew up and realised my passion for politics and social justice and tried to marry that with my creative ability.

• Are you married? Do you have kids? Why, why not?


Not married, no kids, haven’t met the love of my life, that’s why.

• Is being a woman professor/poet/writer hard?


I don’t think so. I think being a writer and surviving financially is hard for anyone because it’s not a money making art form like filmmaking or music etc.

I also think that increasingly, with audiences (student, reading etc) wanting more diversity and authenticity of voice, that they want to hear about women’s issues and women’s stories from women, not necessarily by men, who traditionally may have made up the greater proportion of the academic world.

• Do people take you seriously?


I hope so! For the most part, yes I think they do. I think that’s because I am so passionate about what I do and how I present it.

• What do you consider important in your life?
My family, friends, purpose, my own evolution as a human being and individual.

• What are you passionate about?


Helping people understand the diversity and reality of Indigenous Australia in the 21st century.

• What do you fight for, believe to fight for in?


Both my parents encouraged me to stand up for what I believe in, and that is everything from peace (I marched three times regarding the war on Iraq), to human rights, that Australia should be a Republic and so on.

• Can you describe one of your proudest moments?


I have a couple, but one would have to be the day I graduated with a PhD in Communication and Media from UWS in 2001. I was the first Aboriginal student to do so in the University’s history, and it was a day that I celebrated with my family and close friends. My Dad was a carpenter, and he was all decked out in a new suit and bought me every piece of memorabilia available on the day. His pride in my achievement (which was really his achievement, because I wouldn’t have been there without my parent’s hard work and support) made me even prouder.

• What are your favourite things in life?


Chocolate, reading, writing, chocolate, walking and swimming (to get rid of the chocolate), laughing, shopping, being with friends and family, chocolate, positive people, chocolate, drinking icy cold water, lying at the beach, exploring new cities, and chocolate!



Questions about writing


• When did you start writing and why?


A long, long time ago, before email, I was the world’s greatest pen pal. I used to write epic letters, simply because I loved to talk, and when the target of my communication wasn’t around, then I’d write what I wanted to say. It seemed I had enough to say to fill a book… well about six of them. So far...

• Did you do anything to help you learn to write or did it just come naturally?


I just started writing, and kept at it. I’m still learning. I surround myself with capable writers and try to sap their knowledge and skills with every coffee or meal we have. I wished I could do something, anything, that came naturally, but alas, I’m the kind of person that has to constantly practice.

• What do you love about writing?
The chance to use creativity to escape, to heal, to write the world I wished we had, and also to make social change. I am at my happiest when I’m punching the keys.

• What do you think makes a good writer and who are some of your favourite authors?
A good writer will make their reader feel something: empathy, sympathy, fear, anxiety, relief, sadness, uplifted. A great writer, I think, will make me laugh out loud when reading their work. Jonathan Safran Foer does that for me.

As for my favourites, my bookshelves are full of Australian authors, and when I grow up I want to be able to write like Rosie Scott, Kathryn Heyman, Linda Jaivin, Mark Ragg, Alex Miller, Terri Janke and Kim Scott. I’m also a huge fan of Toni Morrison and Jonathan Safran Foer.

• Who influences your poetry and/or novel writing?


People I know, have conversations with, give me inspiration. I love writers like Alexis Wright, Melissa Lucashenko, Alex Miller, Rosie Scott.

• What do you like to write about?


Things that are important to me – social justice, human rights, Indigenous issues, the human condition, how we relate to each other.

• How do you find moving between genres of writing - from poetry to children’s books to this?


I enjoy the change of voice, pace and structure. Poetry is less structured for me, and is about making quick social points about an issue. The children’s book allows me to go back to a younger voice and play with language, and the chicklit novel lets me be very creative with scenes, storyline, and characters. I’m moving among genres to see if I can do one well, and when I find one I’m good at I might stick with it!

• Do you have any advice you could offer on writing and publishing?


On writing:


Write EVERY day, and read widely, across genre, geography, gender and culture. You will get a feel for what you think works on the page and it will help you define your own style and voice.

Join a writer’s centre and the Australian Society of Authors to make contacts, get professional development and to learn about the industry.



On publishing:


Get your manuscript looked at by a professional before you send it to a publisher – don’t waste your time or theirs not having done that. Don’t give it to a relative or friend, unless of course they are editors. You need objective, professional advice. Look at the books in the store / library and see who publishes the kinds of works you are writing. Then check out their websites to see if they accept unsolicited materials and the process for sending it in.

• What's harder – writing a book or selling it?


I’m lucky, I have a background in PR and a PhD in Communication and Media, and so I know how it all works and am a media slut when it comes to selling books. I will go on any radio show (OK, wouldn’t to Jones or Laws) and do any paper anywhere, if it means reaching a bigger reading audience, and hopefully selling a few more books.

I think lots of people can write, the hard thing is writing something at the right time, and something that people want to read. Something that is different, that fills a niche that has a good storyline and is well written. A hook that the media will run with.

I launched Not Meeting Mr Right on Valentine’s Day so there was a hook there, but of course the difference was that the heroine while following the formula of boy meets girl, had something more complicated about her Mr Right search.

• Do you tire of book launches and repetitive interview questions, or is it all good fun and good publicity?


I don’t tire of book launches, who would? You’re the centre of attention, there’s a party that someone else mostly pays for, and you don’t have to clean up.

Yes, I get tired of the same questions, but it’s all part of the process of writing and publishing. I want people to read the words I’ve agonised over to get on the page. Therefore, I have to do the work to make the book move out of the warehouse and onto the shelves.



Questions about Who Am I? – The Diary of Mary Talence, Sydney, 1937


• How did you come to write a book for the My Story series and why was writing about a child of the Stolen Generations important to you?


I was approached by Scholastic who wanted to have a wholistic view of Australian history in the series, and not necessarily an Anglo / Eurocentric view, or one that only considered the ‘glorious’ or ‘feel good’ moments that of course we need to celebrate.

Writing about the Stolen Generations was important to me for two reasons:

Firstly, there was no material whatsoever on the issue of child removal policies written in a format accessible to young people in the classroom, making it easy for teachers to omit teaching it as part of a history class. To give a complete picture of the significant moments in Australian history post 1788 - it is essential that such an important, albeit tragic, part of Australian history is taught. I believe we have some wonderful moments and some dark moments in our history, but they need to be embraced and understood from the schooling years on. Writing Who Am I? The Diary of Mary Talence, Sydney 1937, gave me an opportunity to transport the reader to a particular moment in Australian history that is still impacting on many Australians today.

Secondly, my own Grandmother was taken to Cootamundra Girls’ Home at the age of 6, and then went to the Home of the Good Shepherd in Ashfield before she was put into service at the age of 14. I don’t know one Indigenous Australian who hasn’t been affected by the policies of protection. And those of us who have an ability and platform to educate and inform on the issue, and want to make some social change through understanding the consequences of such policies, feel compelled to write, sing, perform etc about it.

• Did you find writing in a diary form gave you any special challenges? How did you approach the task of writing the story?


I hadn’t written much fiction previous to this novel, but I was truly grateful for the format. It gave me limits which I think was useful for the first novel for young people. I also appreciated the goal of the novel, as explained by the publisher: “To transport the reader through the voice of a young person at a particular point in Australian history’. I really enjoyed the process of reading books for young people to look at voice (it was a bit hard to remember back to that age). Having said that, I did draw on a lot of my own memories as a young Koori being harassed on the playground, and was able to use a lot of that material in the book.

• In the notes at the end of the book you mention many of the written resources that you used to research Mary's diary. Did you also talk to people who had been part of the stolen generations and use their experiences in the book?



I was fortunate enough to spend some time with Eileen Stevens who spent 9 years in Bomaderry Aboriginal Children’s Home

• What special attention did you have to pay to features of the language you used and details of everyday life to bring Mary to life and give her the real voice of an Aboriginal girl living in the 1930s?


OK, well the 1930s thing was a bit of a problem, and that’s where I had to research books from that period and find relevant terms, slang words. And the editor also picked things up, for example, at one point I had Mary use the word “ballistic’ in relation to how angry her teacher was. It was pointed out to me that perhaps that word wasn’t used in the 1930s and I had to find something more appropriate. I’m told that there’s a dictionary of terms over the various decades, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it.

I also got a couple of cousins about Mary’s age to read drafts of the manuscript to give me feedback on language. I had the word ‘assimilation’ in the text, and they just that, ‘that’s too big a word’, which is what is now in the book. And the discussion became Mary saying of her conversation with Dorothy, “She used a really by word starting with ‘A’”. And it is much more realistic for a 10 year old to have it that way.



Questions about Not Meeting Mr Right


• How would you describe your new book Not Meeting Mr Right, briefly?
It’s a book about a gorgeous, intelligent, capable young woman who momentarily forgets that her single life is fabulous without the need to compete with many of her contemporaries who are married, mortgage mothers. In her desire to meet her own Mr Right and prove she can have it all, she embarks on a very strategic journey where she finds a few undesirables, a couple of complete losers, some appreciated sex, and one or two potential husbands. The outcome of her strategy is what is most surprising though.

• Is the Alice character based on yourself, or anyone else?
Of course! I am gorgeous, intelligent and capable!! Seriously, for the most part, the book is fictional. But I don’t believe in pure fiction. I think all writers bring something of themselves and their life experiences to the page, and there is material in the book that has been inspired by my own tragic love life. Yes, I have been stood up, dumped by email, tried Internet dating. But I’ve never done a SWOT analysis about being in a relationship. Perhaps I should!

• What inspired you to write Not Meeting Mr Right?


As a Koori woman living in Sydney, home to the largest gay population in the world, finding a man to marry – black or white – was always going to be a challenge. After a decade of dates from hell, being stood up and put down, cheated on and lied to, the mere thought of meeting a decent guy was almost laughable. But analysing and researching how to do it was fun and exciting! Trying to find Mr Right myself gave me lots of material for a book that I know single women the country over will relate to. I have written and published about the politics of identity, the Stolen Generations and Indigenous issues generally. But I also want to write about other aspects of my life. I shop for bras, menstruate, queue for toilets in nightclubs, shop at Tiffany’s. These are about being a woman, black or white. So I wrote a book that I’d like to read, in the hope that all women I hope will chuckle over and nod in agreement at how desperately hard it is to meet ‘Mr Right’ in Sydney, in the 21st century.

• What was the writing process – did write it from front to back, more randomly? Did you know the ending before you started writing the novel and did it change as you write it?



I wrote a plan with chapter headings like: Hen’s Night, Dates from Hell, A Wedding, and so on. I wrote about 20,000 words in 10 days because I had the material in my head, I just needed to sit down and get it on the page. I thought I had the ending on about day three of writing – she was going to end up with Marco. In fact, I think in the first draft given to the structural editor, she was with Marco, but of course that changed.

I’m about to start the sequel to NMMR which is due at Random House in November, and I know the ending of that already, and have written chapter breakdowns already, character backgrounds and so on. That alone is about 5,000 words long.

• What was the editing process like? How did you work with your editor?


I first had a consultant editor recommended by my agent (an ex-Harper Collins editor) do a structural edit for me. The best investment ever. The manuscript went from present tense to past tense; we lost chapters but gained 20,000 words. I can’t recommend enough sending your manuscript to someone’s whose job it is to edit and assess.

When the manuscript went to Random House I was given a wonderfully talented and overworked editor named Elizabeth Cowell. Absolute star, she would go through all the comments she had to ensure I was happy with any suggestions and I worked on what I thought was best for the novel, taking on board her skills and knowledge of the area. I can’t wait to work with her again.