What drew you to write ‘Perpetual Otherness’?
This is a very personal story, and encompasses my journey to accepting and understanding my ‘otherness’, being a bisexual half-black female growing up in eastern Melbourne, but also the recent event of my father having a stroke, and how it’s impacted on my relationship with my family, my role in my family, and my identity as a whole. I started writing my family’s history prior to planning a three-month holiday to Africa (which got postponed), as I had planned to write a travel blog. I guess I felt that my parents (and their parents before them) had lived such rich lives; it seemed unfair that no one had told their story. And ultimately, their stories become my own to some degree.
Which nonfiction writer would you most want to have a drink with, and why?
Maya Angelou. She was so brutally honest in her writing, and she would have been able to have a good laugh too. I don’t imagine she took herself too seriously.
If I asked a friend of yours what you were good at, what would they say?
I asked my girlfriend; she said ‘good at listening’, and then said ‘ummm’ and didn’t respond further … I tried not to be offended.
What was the last book you had trouble finishing, and why?
The Sound of One Hand Clapping by Richard Flanagan. It’s so beautifully written, but so heartbreaking that I actually found myself feeling quite depressed reading it. Amazing writing, that it can have that kind of impact — and from an Australian writer as well! I plan to finish it, but I’ve decided I need to be in the right mind frame to.
What do you think of writing that blurs the line between fiction and nonfiction? Does the line matter?
I think that even in fiction writing, there is some kind of link to real life, as that’s what we identify with or connect to. I think so long as writing invokes something in you, it makes little difference whether it’s classified as fiction or nonfiction.
Who is guilty of greater crimes against literature: James Franco or James Frey?
I do think it is a bit disgusting to paint fiction work as a memoir; however, I do think James Frey wrote a distinct novel in A Million Little Pieces. I think he captured wonderfully what it feels like to be completely eaten up with anger, and just how lost you can sometimes feel. I had a friend of mine with substance issues who really identified with that book, and I think for so many people to have also felt that way, that in itself has meaning, even if all the details are not factual or correct.
What is the constant in your life, even as other things change?
Obviously we change as people, but I’ve learnt to become pretty confident at being able to rely on myself, which is something I’m pretty proud of. That’s a pretty reliable constant. That and my appetite.