{"id":78850,"date":"2018-02-08T09:58:53","date_gmt":"2018-02-07T22:58:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.booktopia.com.au\/?p=78850"},"modified":"2018-02-19T16:31:33","modified_gmt":"2018-02-19T05:31:33","slug":"clare-atkins-author-us-answers-booktopia-book-guruss-ten-terrifying-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/2018\/02\/08\/clare-atkins-author-us-answers-booktopia-book-guruss-ten-terrifying-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Clare Atkins, author of Between Us answers the Booktopia Book Gurus’s Ten Terrifying Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Between<\/a>The Booktopia Book Guru asks
\nClare Atkins<\/strong>
\nauthor of\u00a0Between Us<\/strong>
\nTen Terrifying Questions
\n____________<\/h1>\n

1.\u00a0To begin with why don\u2019t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was born in Sydney, and grew up living with my Australian single mother. I saw my Vietnamese father regularly, probably around once a month. Living between two cultures definitely impacted on the stories I now like to tell; I always find myself interested in the people exploring the grey areas and living in the spaces between worlds.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

At twelve I wanted to be a doctor, mostly because I thought it would make my dad proud. By eighteen I\u2019d figured out that my parents\u2019 only real wish for me was that I do something I love; I went to Charles Sturt University, inspired by Race Around the World<\/em>, thinking I wanted to make documentaries. At thirty I\u2019d just had my first child so all I think all wanted to be was not tired! But, more seriously, by thirty I had been writing television drama for almost ten years. I loved working in the industry but also had a strong desire to tell my own stories, which is what led me to write novels. The comparative freedom and creative control you get as an author still astounds me.<\/p>\n

\"Clare3.\u00a0What strongly held belief did you have at eighteen that you do not have now?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is going to sound bleak but at eighteen I thought the world was a just place, that if you were a good person then good things would happen to you. It was a pretty individualistic outlook \u2013 I don\u2019t remember how that belief accounted for people experiencing things like wars, natural disasters, abuse or poverty. Now I believe that the world throws all sorts of situations at all kinds of people, and there isn\u2019t necessarily justice or reason behind it. All anyone can do is try to cope the best they can, whilst hopefully living by their morals, not hurting others, and, where possible, using their experiences to affect positive change.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0What were three works of art \u2013 book or painting or piece of music, etc \u2013 you can now say, had a great effect on you and influenced your own development as a writer?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bridge to Terabithia<\/em><\/a> by Katherine Paterson influenced me hugely as a child. I was stunned by the deep connection I felt to the characters and the catharsis of reading something that made me cry. Looking for Alibrandi<\/em><\/a> by Melina Marchetta was the first book I read as a teenager that I really related to. I felt like I was seeing a version of my life on the page and it was hugely comforting to know I wasn\u2019t alone in growing up between cultures. Tracy Chapman\u2019s self-titled debut album came out when I was a kid and still affects me every time I hear it \u2013 I love the mix of her soulful voice, passionate lyrics and socially aware outlook. The album made me aware of the power of telling stories that otherwise go unheard or overlooked.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0Considering the innumerable artistic avenues open to you, why did you choose to write a novel?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I felt like a novel was the best medium for this particular story. I wanted to explore the three perspectives of Jono, Ana and Kenny, in a fictional story whilst weaving in historical and personal detail about multiculturalism and immigration in Australia. That said, I always feel like my writing is a bit of a hybrid \u2013 I write and structure my novels as if the chapters are scenes in a television drama. After so many years of writing for television the habit is hard to break!<\/p>\n

6.\u00a0Please tell us about your latest novel\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Between Us<\/em><\/a> is the story of a friendship developing between two very different teenagers, Ana and Jono. Ana is an Iranian asylum seeker who attends mainstream highschool during the day. Jono is a music-loving skater who has had a difficult time of things lately. He lives with his single Vietnamese father Kenny, who has recently started work as a guard at the detention centre where Ana lives. Kenny tells Ana to look out for Jono at school, but quickly comes to regret it, spiralling into suspicion and mistrust. The novel is written from each of these three characters\u2019 perspectives and explores the themes of multiculturalism, belonging and connection.<\/p>\n

7.\u00a0What do you hope people take away with them after reading your work?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I hope that readers experience empathy, and gain a new and intimate understanding of what life is like behind the barbed wire fence. I also hope it leads them to consider our country\u2019s changing attitudes to, and treatment of, refugees and asylum seekers throughout history and ask the question: how could we do this better?<\/p>\n

8.\u00a0Whom do you most admire in the realm of writing and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I admire the brutal honesty of Hanya Yanagihara, the fun and joyfully creative descriptions of Rainbow Rowell, the rhythm and poetry of Omar Musa, the quirky originality of Jaclyn Moriarty, the concise beauty of Nayyirah Waheed, the observation and objective interrogation of Helen Garner, the wit and domestic themes of Jane Austen, the irreverence and humour of Roald Dahl\u2026 and so many more!<\/p>\n

9.\u00a0Many artists set themselves very ambitious goals. What are yours?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My only real career goals are to keep on telling stories I believe in and to make a living doing creative work that excites me. That often feels ambitious enough to me \u2013 did you see the report that came out a few years ago saying Australian writers earn an average of $12,900 a year from their writing?<\/p>\n

10.\u00a0What advice do you give aspiring writers?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t wait for a good time to write. It\u2019s never going to come. If you want to write just do it. Do it today. Do it tomorrow and the day after that. A lot of it is going to suck. The only way to get better is to keep going. I\u2019d like to tell you it gets easier but it doesn\u2019t really, there\u2019s always something to learn or sit with or push through or overcome. Writing is a challenge that never ends.<\/p>\n

Thank you for playing!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Booktopia Book Guru asks Clare Atkins author of\u00a0Between Us Ten Terrifying Questions ____________ 1.\u00a0To begin with why don\u2019t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled?\u00a0 I was born in Sydney, and grew up living with my Australian single mother. I saw my Vietnamese father regularly, probably around once a month. Living between two cultures definitely impacted on the stories I now like to tell; I always find myself interested in the people exploring the grey areas and living in the spaces between worlds. 2.\u00a0What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why?\u00a0 At twelve I wanted to be a doctor, mostly because I thought it would make my dad proud. By eighteen I\u2019d figured out that my parents\u2019 only real wish for me was that I do something I love; I went to Charles Sturt University, inspired by Race Around the World, thinking I wanted to make documentaries. At thirty I\u2019d just had my first child so all I think all wanted to be was not tired! But, more seriously, by thirty I had been writing television drama for almost ten years. I loved working…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":78905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[24,34,85],"tags":[8475,8476,5184,8433,6629,6644],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/BetweenUsSocial.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78850"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78850"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78914,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78850\/revisions\/78914"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}