ANZ LitLovers LitBlog

Rohan Wilson is the author of that astonishing new novel The Roving Party which I read and reviewed just a little while ago. The book won the 2011 Vogel Prize and since this year procedures have been changed so that the winning book hit the bookshop shelves when the announcement was made, readers have been able to get their hands on it in the immediate aftermath of the prize so there has been considerable buzz about it.  I also had the pleasure of attending a session at the Melbourne Writers Festival at which Rohan was on the panel with Kate Grenville and Kim Scott, talking about the issue of fictionalising the history of First Contact in our country.  I couldn’t resist scampering up afterwards to ask Rohan to participate in Meet an Aussie Author – and here he is!

1.  I was born about the same time that postmodernism was gaining the ascendancy in cultural theory, so naturally I write with a sense of that guerilla-style irony.
2.  When I was a child I wrote a series of Grug books.  Grug, as you know, loves to explore so I had him discovering ancient cities and civilisations. I don’t have them anymore, but I remember them clearly.
3.  The person who encouraged/inspired/mentored me to write was, and I know I sound like a wanker, but it really was myself. Writing is a cut-throat game, and if you don’t push yourself, you won’t make it. Simple as that. Don’t let other people set your agenda.
4.  I write in my office, on a big 27 inch iMac. The room is completely bare, except for a little bonsai tree beside my desk.
5.  I write every morning from about 9.30 until I have done what feels like enough. Sometimes that is a lot, sometimes not much. It depends on how tricky the part I am working on is.
6.  Research works better after you have done the first draft. But to write a first draft, you also need to research. It is a nasty paradox. Don’t think about it too much or you brain will melt.
7.  I keep my published work in amongst all my other books. That way, it feels like I belong with the rest of the writing world.
8.  On the day my first book was published, I had an interview with Stephen Romei from The Australian. He had my book in his hands, and that was the first time I had ever seen it. I cannot tell you what huge buzz I got.
9.  At the moment, I’m writing a novel about revenge.   Look out for the extract published in the September issue of Island magazine.
10. When I’m stuck for an idea/word/phrase, I pick up a book of poetry. Usually Ezra Pound or Seamus Heany. Sometimes Ted Hughes.

Well, who’d have thought that those little Grug books could set a youngster on the path towards being a talented author, eh?  I can’t wait to read that next novel!

To buy Rohan’s novel click this link: The Roving Party (Fishpond).