Final Draft - Great Conversations

Maxine Beneba Clarke is an author of short fiction, non fiction and poetry. She won the Victorian Premier’s literary award for poetry in 2017 for her collection Carrying the World,

Her short story collection Foreign Soil, masterfully captures voices from marginalised communities, winning the ABIA for Literary Fiction Book of the Year 2015 and the 2015 Indie Book Award for Debut Fiction.

Maxine Beneba Clarke’s new collection of poetry, How Decent Folk Behave, once again highlights Clarke’s ear for voices and ability to tell stories with empathy and insight.

The collection opens with When the Decade Broke; a sprawling poem that takes in those moments of seemingly endless possibility as we sit collectively holding our breath each new year's eve. The poem examines the fears and realities we all faced as we stared down the millennium. As Y2K gave way to the war on terror we all seemingly had a ‘new normal’ thrust upon us. Again in 2019 as bushfires ringed us in both cities and towns we had little insight of even greater captivity and restraint that would challenge our sense of self. When the Decade Broke reminds us that it’s ok to not be ok and flips these harsh reminiscences with the line ‘but that all slowly started to change’. Clarke is able to tell us of a place where these things are our past.

And so the scene is set. The poems in this collection will be brief or they will be epic. They will capture voices of the city and the regions and they will unflinchingly speak to the violence and privation, the microaggressions and the outright calamity of blatant abuse of power and privelege.

The poem Something Sure gives the collection its name. A mother addresses her son in the wake of the murder of Hannah Clarke. The mother talks to her son about How Decent Folk Behave and his responsibilities as a man...

your mama needs to know

that a good man,

exactly the man you’ll be,

will lead a bad man home

This poem left me devastated. There is simply no answer to such a call to action other than to look inward and ask whether you are equal to the task.

How Decent Folk behave sees our excuses and our weasel words and speaks to us in plain language. It knows

You don’t wanna

Think too much

About the year that was

But also sees that “there is hope, in little things”

How Decent Folk Behave launches this week and I couldn’t wait to bring this in for you all. The poems are a tonic to feelings of malaise and that stupefaction we’re all kinda feeling when we realise we have to relearn how to be social and in a crowd.

I’d love to invite you all to tune in this Saturday. Maxine will be my guest on Final Draft and she’ll be doing a reading from How Decent Folk Behave. Trust me it’s a must hear!

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Larrikins occupy a revered space in Australian culture. Variously knockabout blokes, outlaws or rebels, larrikins can seemingly get away with anything and do it with a smile. A larrikin is the sort of bloke who'd steal the wool off your sheep and then ask you to knit him a jumper he'd quickly pull over your eyes.

Lech Blaine is the author of the new Quarterly Essay 'Top Blokes - The Larrikin Myth, Class and Power'.

In this special preview Lech joins Andrew to discuss the evolution of the larrikin and try to pinpoint the moment when larrikinism got co-opted by powerful forces.

Great Conversations features interviews with authors and writers, exploring books, writing and literary culture from Australia and the world.

Today's episode features Sarah Bailey discussing her new thriller The Housemate

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In 2005 Oli Groves’ life is a hot mess. She’s comfortably bouncing between partying and life as a junior reporter. So it is one morning when she stumbles into possibly the biggest story of her life, the notorious Housemate Homicide.

Ten years later, Oli looks like she’s got it all. On paper.

That is until the Housemate Homicide case is reignited when one of the missing housemates turns up dead, dragging up ghosts from the past.

And Oli is learning that paper may not have the future she thought it did.

Join me as we discover Sarah Bailey ’s The Housemate...

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Great Conversations features interviews with authors and writers, exploring books, writing and literary culture from Australia and the world.

Today's episode features James Roxburgh discussing his debut novel The Banksia House Breakout

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Since the death of her husband Ray, Michael has felt his mother Ruth is struggling to manage. He’s arranged a room for her at Banksia House and sold the family home. When Michael delivers Ruth to Banksia House; he doesn’t think she can look after herself and he doesn’t want to be bothered with it.

But Ruth has a mission; she has to get to Brisbane to farewell her oldest friend. With no money and no car though it won’t be easy.

So Ruth and her new friends Beryl and Jean hatch a plan

Join me as we discover James Roxburgh ’s The Banksia House Breakout...

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Today I’ve got an exciting True Crime fiction that hits all the highs, is clever and suspenseful and has a lot to say about our world whilst harkening us back to the 90’s. Ruth McIver's I Shot the Devil

Ruth McIver is a Dublin born, Melbourne based writer. She won the 2018 Richell Prize for an emerging writer and the product of that win is her new novel I Shot the Devil.

I suppose you’d say I like true crime about as much as the next person. I listened to the first season of Serial, I’ve had a look at In Cold Blood. But on the whole I’m not a True Crime obsessive.

One exception to that though seems to be true crime fiction.

You probably just did a double take. Surely there’s true crime and then there’s fictional crime (which usually just gets called crime - go figure) But as any genre or style takes hold it is bound to inspire imitators, homages and people who understand the potential of one text to operate within the broader style of another (thank you postmodernism).

So we have true crime fiction… following an investigation or digging up a cold case. Our protagonist will not be a sleuth but will have the nous to dig up information and often they will be working on a podcast (because aren’t we all these days).

If you’re currently watching Only Murders in the Building you know exactly what I’m talking about…

In I Shot the Devil, Reporter Erin Sloane returns to her home town of Southport. Her Dad’s dying and although though they haven’t always had the best relationship, he’s her only family. This is no nostalgia trip though. Erin’s editor has received a tip off about the notorious Southport Three, a group of teens implicated in a satanic murder in the 90s.

Erin’s charged to write a story about the group and their legacy. It’s the sort of story that could make her career. But Erin is also a part of the story; she hasn’t told her editor that back in high school she was dating one of the killers.

I shot the Devil immediately flips the oft repeated trope of most crime, true or otherwise. The victims of the historical crime are not women, but two young men. Erin’s role in digging up the past forces her to confront the trauma of the time and we see that the inevitable deadly exercise of power spreads far and wide.

One aspect of the I Shot the Devil that is immediately compelling is the blurring of the true and (well also) true crime genre tropes. If you’ve got a murder mystery well you know there are rules - final act denouement and all that. True Crime owes us no neat conclusions though. When we join the reporter or the podcaster we know there’s every chance that all their efforts might lead to naught. Erin makes this increasingly likely with her self destructive behaviour.

So if crime fiction gives us the illusion of order and justice in the world, what is it that we turn to true crime for? And how might a fictionalising of true crime enhance that experience?

I think True Crime entices us with the eternal possibility of justice, There’s a lot of bad things happening in the world; powerful people seem to be able to act with impunity and escape all consequences. True Crime shows us that in an information saturated world the truth exists for those who are willing to search.

In Ruth McIver’s I Shot the Devil we see that search in its broader literary sense. The stories we tell help make us who we are. Erin’s quest has as much to do with seeking justice for her friend as seeking to honour a story that has been buried.

Great Conversations features interviews with authors and writers, exploring books, writing and literary culture from Australia and the world.

Today's episode features Tobias Madden discussing his debut novel Anything But Fine

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One moment. That’s all it takes to topple Luca’s dream of joining the Australian Ballet School. One misstep and Luca is propelled from Arabesques to Netflix with no chill in a Moonboot on the couch.

Luca thinks losing Ballet means losing himself. It was basically his whole identity.

Now he’s at North; no friends, no dance and a lot of homophobia from the jocks. But then there’s the cute guy at Luca’s OT appointments. Perhaps the cascade of events of that misstep will show Luca there was always so much more to life than he’d imagined...

Join me as we discover Tobias Madden ’s Anything But Fine...

Want more great conversations with Australian authors?

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Today I have brought in what I think more than a few of us need… a north coast road trip for the mind featuring lovable heroes and easy to hate villains. I can’t promise life will always be this straightforward, but indulge with me in the world of The Banksia House Breakout and enjoy a few days in the sun.

The Banksia House Breakout is the debut novel for James Roxburgh. James is an audiologist specialising in the care of the elderly and has used his caring eye to create some compelling characters that challenge our stereotypes of aging.

The Banksia House Breakout opens with a quintessentially Sydney scene. An auctioneer slams the gavel on another million dollar sale.

Immediately the reader gets the impression that something is amiss. The owner of the bungalow in Ryde is not happy. Ruth has sold her home on the advice of her son Michael. Since the death of her husband, Michael has felt that Ruth is struggling to manage. He’s arranged a room for her at Banksia House and the family home and all its contents have to go.

From its cover The Banksia House Breakout looks a twee, feel good romp but I can tell you that it’s opening chapters are dark. And while they are redeemed by some genuine feel good moments, it’s clear that James Roxburgh wants to understand something about the ways that older Australians are treated, or perhaps more aptly, how they are too often relegated into a kind of waiting room to the lives of their significant others.

On arriving in Bankia House Ruth makes friends but also enemies. Discovering a clique of ladies in the breakfast room they quickly warn her of Glenn, a nurse whom all the residents fear.

Ruth wakes the next morning to Glenn rifling through her things searching for loot. Glenn’s threats are quickly followed by the news that Ruth’s best friend is dying in Brisbane. And so hatches a plan; Ruth and her new friend Beryl must steal a car and get to Brisbane, via Coffs to scatter Beryl’s husband’s ashes, for Ruth to see her friend one more time.

I started The Banksia House Breakout kinda hating it. I was getting so angry at Ruth’s son Michaal for his indifferent treatment of his mother, Glenn is just hideous and I wondered how on earth anything positive could emerge as we were being shown so effectively that these people simply had no agency in their lives.

And it was just as I was ranting again about these characters that I realised I had developed a connection to the world of the novel and the anger I was feeling was because I knew that these were real situations that some older Australians faced.

I don’t know about you but I don’t often start yelling about books. Back when I was able to sit in at cafes or catch a train, I knew a book got me when I had to put it down and wipe away a tear. Well now my cats can assure you The Banksia House Breakout is the real deal because it will have you responding, like it or not.

I’m not going to tell you more about Ruth and Beryl’s escape. Suffice to say that it’s eventful.

This book hits all the right notes for a rollicking tale. You’ll probably see a few of the twists coming but that doesn’t mean they’re not still satisfying.

And as you following the septuagenarians on their adventures watch the reactions and the stereotypes that are invoked. Sure plenty of old men are probably working hard to destroy the world but others are trying to continue incredible lives of value and respect, and constantly being underestimated will only lead to them stealing our cars and joining up with bikies on the Pacific Highway.

James Roxburgh’s The Banksia House Breakout is out now and if you want to discover more James will be joining me on FInal Draft in the coming weeks. This week on the show I have a terrific debut YA from Tobias Madden, Anything But Fine

Great Conversations features interviews with authors and writers, exploring books, writing and literary culture from Australia and the world.

Today's episode features Catherine Jinks discussing her new novel The Attack

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Robyn lives a quiet life on her heritage protected island. It’s once a month she has to deal with the noise of teenagers arriving for a boot camp aimed to help them back on track. The veterans running the camp run a tight ship but something is different this time. There are strange, malicious pranks being pulled, and Robyn is sure she recognises one of the boys from a dark chapter of her past...

Want more great conversations with Australian authors?

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Great Conversations features interviews with authors and writers, exploring books, writing and literary culture from Australia and the world.

Today's episode features Catherine Jinks discussing her incredibly prolific career

Today on the show...

Catherine Jinks is a writer of immense range. Her work has won gongs as diverse as the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, Australian Book Council Award, the Aurealis and the Davitt Award for Crime Fiction…

In this special bonus Catherine discusses her career and some of the things she's learned writing.