Animator, teacher, former Sydney Harbour Bridge tour guide and now novelist, Bernard Gallate, joined the program to delve into his debut novel, ‘The Origin Of Me’. Topics discussed include:

- The two different writing styles that the story is told with – from the book within a book (‘My One Redeeming Affliction), historical fiction tale, to that of the present-day setting of the central character, 15-year-old Lincoln Locke’s and his distinctly contemporary story. How Bernard married the two to tell the unique story he wanted to.

- Balancing humour with harder topics, from the eugenics and human zoo and travelling oddity show practices that were the norm and depicted in the historical fiction account, to that of homophobia and bullying/associated deplorable behaviour shown in the contemporary setting. How there was still a humour to be found prevalent within the overall story and why this was important.

- How his animation provenance and skillset informed, or helped shape, his writing process and style.

- How Bernard went about paring back the original colossal 800+ page version. A brutal and gruelling, but necessary process. And how he ensured that the story he wanted to tell was retained within this onslaught of huge edits.

- And much, much more!

Thanks heaps to Bernard for appearing on the program – you can pick up your copy of ‘The Origin Of Me’ via Penguin Random House, here:

https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-origin-of-me-9780143789628