What inspired you to begin a writing career?

Curiosity! Without sounding too much like a fatalist, I’ve always felt that writing was destined to be more than just a hobby for me. Spending much of my childhood and adolescence in hospital, I developed a rich inner world, where I could lose myself in imagination and story. This solitude became an ideal breeding ground for storytelling where long stretches of isolation allowed me the freedom to be with my own ideas so I could create.

I could read before I started school, and the library was one my favourite places to be. I wrote my first piece of memoir when I was eight on good old-fashioned foolscap, but my focus shifted to detective stories when I started reading Sherlock Holmes, Nancy Drew, and Harriet the Spy.

In high school, I found a battered copy of Sylvia Plath’s Ariel in the Archives Bookstore in Brisbane city. Then I found a copy of The Colossus. She flipped my world upside down in terms of what I thought poetry could be, and because this was before the internet (way before the internet, in fact), her poetry wasn’t easy to find. There certainly wasn’t any in my school library. As I attempted to emulate Plath, this inspired some very melodramatic poetry which never ceases to horrify me! Another pivotal moment was falling in love with Victorian gothic when I nabbed an old hardback copy of Wuthering Heights at a Lifeline Bookfest (fun fact: I was on day leave from hospital and was walking around with a particularly nasty case of pleurisy, along with my suitcase of books. It was all about the books and still is. Books are the first thing I pack for a hospital admission!)

What does it mean to have Breath shortlisted for the Queensland Literary Awards People’s Choice Book of the Year Award?

It’s an immense honour and privilege, made even sweeter by being shortlisted alongside three of my friends. I try to take a fairly Buddhist approach to things like this, not getting too attached to any particular outcome, but it’s been thrilling to see my book recognised. I was gobsmacked when my publisher Madonna Duffy called to tell me I was on the shortlist. As a first time author, I really am humbled to be included on this list with seven other accomplished authors. I feel very grateful. 

What do you know now that you wish you’d known at the start of your career?

I wish I had gone from high school to study English Literature at university rather than drama. Retrospect can be a thorny mistress … Having been in the writing world for about 24 years, I had a sense of what I was getting into. Just like life, nothing is guaranteed. I wish I had taken more early career opportunities in my twenties and thirties, but life after a double lung transplant is so unpredictable and I was often too unwell to seize those opportunities.

Which Australian authors/illustrators have been influential for you?

Because we have such a rich history of literature in Australia, I’ll try to keep my list brief and recent. Authors who get me excited include Jessie Cole, Chloe Hooper, Meera Atkinson, Maria Tumarkin, Anna Krien, Sally Olds, Natasha Sholl, Lee Kofman, Helen Garner and Tim Winton. They’re all authors who throw down the gauntlet and write courageous books, seemingly without fear, and I love that they do that.

Why are you a member of the ASA?

With their dedicated advocacy for author rights, I see the ASA as our union. It’s essential to have someone safeguarding our collective interests, especially with the threat of AI. No one else is going to fight for us, and the ASA offers a wealth of information that supports authors at every stage of their careers. I really appreciate the work they do for us.