I just try and write the kind of book I would like to read. Something unpredictable and alive and somehow excessive (although not too long).
Tell us a little about your background – what did you study and what path led you to what you are doing today?
I studied Creative Arts at Melbourne Uni– which allowed me to try lots of different things. I studied ceramics and creative writing and installation art and sculpture and painting and cinema studies and art history. It was a fantastic course that saved lots of talented people who didn’t know exactly what the wanted to do yet. It doesn’t exist any more (like most good things). Then I studied Art in Public Space at RMIT. Then I went back to Melbourne Uni and did an Honours in Creative Writing. Then I tried to do a Phd. Then I dropped out.
Where do you derive your inspiration from?
Everything appears to me in dreams.
What have been one or two favourite recent projects?
These last couple years I’ve been travelling around Australia interviewing old hippies for my second novel. This research also took me to India, to Chennai recently, as part of Asialink’s global exchange program. Going there was the best thing that’s happened to me in ages.
Describe your process. Do you work from life, references or a combination of both?
I mix it all up.
What do you want the reader to experience when they’re engaging with your work?
I just try and write the kind of book I would like to read. Something unpredictable and alive and somehow excessive (although not too long). Something that overflows its own borders. I don’t like books that are too neat. I don’t want it to be too easily digested. Something should stick in your throat and refuse to go away. Also, a reader should want to read slowly. They should also want to read bits out loud to the person sitting next to them.