I am a Sydney-based writer. My hometown is Toronto, Canada where I spent the first 20 or so years of my life. A short backpacking trip to Europe turned into a long series of increasingly lengthy journeys. Eventually, I ended up teaching English in Japan. This led me to Melbourne, Australia where I taught in high schools and universities. In 2005, I wrote an article in The Age newspaper where I coined the phrase ‘English Lite’ to describe the forthcoming changes to the Year 11 and 12 English curriculum. My fifteen minutes of fame included gentle rebukes from both sides of the political spectrum and some not so gentle mail from angry readers of the newspaper.  This somehow led to an appearance on the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)’s Lingua Franca program. I talked about my experiences teaching Shakespeare to high school students and my favourites among his work. Not long after it was broadcast, I got a phone call from Andrew Kelly at Black Dog Books. ‘Would you like to write a book for us?’

 

I had always thought of myself as a writer, even if my bibliography was slim. There was a short story in a collection while I was at university, a few record reviews and music features here and there, and a series of articles on education in The Age in the wake of English Lite. I’d written a couple of study guides for an Australian publisher. Sometimes, I dropped into the academic bookshop on Swanston St in Melbourne just to see them on the shelf. The answer to Andrew’s question was, ‘Yes’. Shakespeare: The Most Famous Man in London appeared in 2009.

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I wrote three books for Black Dog. The final was a novel about Mary Shelley and her circle called Summer of Monsters. I guess every writer feels this way but I can’t understand why it wasn’t a smash hit! Anyway, it’s still in print so you can read it. Someone on Goodreads said that it was too ‘discombobulated’ for her.  So be careful. I’m not responsible for any discombobulation events. That said, I’m not interested in fiction that is overly combobulated. How about you?

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My next two books were about classic rock and roll bands. These were written for a UK publisher called Sonicbond as part of a series called On Track. The idea of the series is to present a band’s work in total. The subtitle of the books in the series is Every Track, Every Album. Not too much to cover with my bands, The Doors and CCR, but pity the writer who takes on Hawkwind or King Crimson. My first one was on The Doors. I wrote it during the first long lockdown in Melbourne. It was fun. I listened to music and wrote by the front window. The following year, I took on Creedence Clearwater Revival. To get myself into their music, I learned to play most of their songs on guitar. There are a zillion books on The Doors but very few on CCR so there was the excitement of breaking new ground as well. I sometimes wonder if John Fogerty has read it. I hope so!

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For awhile, during the pandemic, I had a weekly column on an online entertainment website which has now disappeared completely from the web. The column was called ‘Disappointing Albums’ and, as you might imagine, it created some discussion online. Apparently, not everyone feels the same way I do about the lesser entries in the rock and roll pantheon. That’s where the quote from the unnamed sixties pop idol on the homepage comes from. I was writing about the Yardbirds’ Little Games record and made a passing reference to a famous pop band of the time in relation to the producer, Mickie Most. My point was that he was a bad fit for The Yardbirds. I stand by this! Somehow, the singer in the pop band, perhaps in between gigs somewhere, spotted my article and let me have it in the comments section. I’m not going to mention his name. You can probably figure it out if you’re a student of that era’s music.

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My latest book is Hey, Zazou! It is set during the 1940s in occupied Paris. The main character is a young Zazou called Charlie. I started with the idea that being a teenager is difficult because you feel like the adult world is complicated and you are only ever given glimpses of its machinery. Then I imagined what it would be like to be a teenager in a city occupied by the Nazis. It’s also about music, of course. Ford Street Publishing has done a wondrous job with it. Pick up a copy soon!

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My next book will either be a novel where absolutely nothing happens on the Manly Ferry, a cosy crime novel set in Yarraville, or a long meditation on the saxophonist, Bobby Keys.

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I teach Creative Writing at Macquarie University on a casual basis and live between Sydney and the Blue Mountains. I have a son who plays bass in a bunch of bands in London and a partner who is a famous writer. I love Clarice Beckett’s paintings, The Waterboys, San Telmo in Buenos Aires, and coffee.