Dr Jared Thomas is a Nukunu person of the Southern Flinders Ranges, William and Margaret Geary Research Fellow, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Material Culture and Art at the South Australian Museum and the University of South Australia, and an Indigenous Literacy Foundation ambassador. He is the highly regarded author of critically acclaimed books for young adults including Sweet Guy, which was short-listed for both the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards and the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, and Calypso Summer, for which Jared was awarded the Kuril Dhagun Indigenous Writing Fellowship, and which was selected by the International Youth Library as a White Raven Book and short-listed for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Indigenous Writing. Jared is also the author of the YA novel Songs that Sound Like Blood, and the co-author of the Patty Mills series Game Day.
Today, to celebrate the recent release of his latest YA novel My Sacred Heart, Jared Thomas is on the blog to take on our Ten Terrifying Questions! Read on …
Jared Thomas
1. To begin with, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled?
I was born, raised and schooled in Port Augusta in South Australia, before leaving home and enrolling at Adelaide University just before I turned 17.
As a kid I spent lots of time playing football, basketball, cricket, and I loved riding my BMX bike. I was lucky to play music, and I spent a lot of time camping and fishing with my family.
2. What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why?
When I was 12, I wanted to be either a marine biologist or a horticulturalist, mostly because I love being in nature. Today I love being able to work to preserve and restore environments.
By the time I was 18, I wanted to be a writer because I wanted to address racism and share the wonders of Aboriginal life and culture, and I still feel that writing fiction and for the screen are the best vehicles for this.
At 30, like today my main aspiration is to continue writing and increase the reach of my stories. I would love to play a greater role in writing for the screen.
3. What strongly held belief did you have at eighteen that you don’t have now?
I believed that being without structure and going with the flow was an important way to live whereas today I feel that there’s a freedom that comes from being organised.
4. What are three works of art – this could be a book, painting, piece of music, film, etc – that influenced your development as a writer?
The two literary pieces that most influenced my writing are the play Funerals and Circuses by Roger Bennett and the collection of short stories Summer Lightning & Other Stories by Olive Senior. This is hilarious, but to this day the movies Rocky and Star Wars and the television show Faulty Towers influence every story that I write in regard to character and plot development, and maintaining dramatic tension throughout my stories.
5. Considering the many artistic forms out there, what appeals to you about writing a young adult novel?
I appreciate the connection with readers that comes through telling a story in longform fiction. It takes a commitment from myself as author and reader. I remember reading as a teen and how transformative the experience was, having the ability to engage and consider something in a very private way.
‘Write whatever it is that you are driven to write, the things that make you angry, the things that excite or relax you.’
6. Please tell us about your latest book!
My Spare Heart is the story of seventeen year old Phoebe Ridgeway as she comes to realise the depths of her mum’s addiction issue and begins finding ways to address it. Rather than focussing on alcoholism and what leads to it etc., the focus of this book is about the impact of someone who has an alcoholic in their life.
7. What do you hope people take away with them after reading your work?
I hope that people have an understanding of the complexities of addiction and its impact on young people, families and communities, and that people suffering in relation to the addiction issues of a friend or family member come to an understanding of how to seek support.
8. Who do you most admire in the writing world and why?
I most admire Anita Heiss and Tony Birch. They work incredibly hard at their own writing and supporting the development of Aboriginal writers. They take the time to read the work of emerging Aboriginal writers.
9. Many artists set themselves very ambitious goals. What are yours?
I would like My Spare Heart to be published internationally, especially in the US and UK, because I feel it is a truly universal story. I would like to see the screen adaptation of one of my novels go into production within the next three years.
10. Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
Write whatever it is that you are driven to write, the things that make you angry, the things that excite or relax you. And do not wait for time to write, try and make a habit of writing for at least ten minutes every day and before you know it, your story will grow.
Thank you for playing!
—My Sacred Heart by Jared Thomas (Allen & Unwin) is out now.
My Spare Heart
Phoebe's non-Indigenous mother, a busy event manager, and her father, an Aboriginal man and uni lecturer, have split up and she's moved to sleepy old Willunga with him and his new health-obsessed girlfriend. It's only a few kilometres from Phoebe's old friends and the city, but it feels like another world.
Her new school is full of hippies, but some of the kids are cool and the local basketball team is tight, and before long Phoebe's fitting in. But as her mum becomes increasingly unreliable, Phoebe's grades begin to suffer...
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