Jordy Kerr from the Centre for Youth Literature was in conversation with the Young Adult authors Julia Lawrinson and Vikki Wakefield. Firstly they talked about the work they had done before they became writers. Julia Lawrinson has had a lot of different jobs, including being an Usher of the Black Rod at a Parliament House. She has a PhD in Writing, is an award winning writer and the author of Losing It, a Young Adult fiction book.

Vikki Wakefield is an award nominated writer. Her second book Friday Brown is released this week. Both of the writers are up for lots of awards, they say this is good because it validates working hard; people reading the books is the final process. Vikki said that the book drifts away from you as you move on to others. She’s pleased that so many people are reading the books. Both of the writers have been checkout chicks and done a variety of jobs; so they can see across a representative range of society. They talked about some of their worse jobs and how when you are on the checkout you’re just a thing to many people; you’ve got to see people at their worst to really write about them. How people behaved in the queue during the five pm mass scanning of goods before the shop shut, revealed a lot about them.

Jordy Kerr talked to Julia Lawrinson about Losing It; which is about four girls who make a bet to lose their virginity before Schoolies week. The book is about what sex means to each of these girls. It’s also about their friendship and what it means to them. Jordy Kerr said that Friday Brown is about street kids who take over a ghost town in the outback. It’s moving, the characters are original and gutsy, flawed individuals. She said that Losing It is the sort of book she wanted to read when she was young. When it starts off the style is utilitarian then it becomes warm and funny. Julia Lawrinson said that one of the influences that gave her the idea was Melvin Burgess’ book Doing It. This book was quite controversial; when the writer Anne Fine reviewed it she said it was filthy. It’s about boys and how they negotiate sex and relationships; there isn’t any girl’s equivalent.

Julia said she has been to so many talks by male writers and she wondered how do you do the equivalent book for girls. It tackles sensitive matters:  street kids, and the harshness of life. One of the characters Amaya is Muslim, but she is the most experienced of the girls. Amaya is Iranian, she has some relations, but she’s uncomfortable with them, they would pigeon hole her. She is very protected; girls had to stay home; so she has become inventive about getting around this. She’s in love with her cousin. How do Australians cope with this? The writer didn’t want a fatwa declared on her; you have to be sensitive about these things. Another book has a half Aboriginal character.

Vikki Wakefield said that the street kid culture is strong in Friday Brown. Jordy Kerr asked, what did she have to be careful about? Vikki said that she just throws herself into the writing. She thinks that Australian writing doesn’t have enough written about Aboriginal characters. She writes about them as though they are her friends and neighbours. There’s a character called Benny in the book and Bree is Aboriginal. We need more writing about mixed characters. In her books, girls can be flawed and make mistakes. She likes starting with an underdog; and she will strip wealth, beauty, etc away to make a character an underdog.

Julia said that she is a feisty female, so it’s natural for her to write about that sort of people. She’s against the passive female, and doesn’t like the raunch culture; in which women are treated as an Object, and their high heels are their hobbles. She likes different shades of women. The boy Matty is an unofficial member of girl group; he’s a geeky guy who is friends with the girls. The girls don’t think they’d sleep with him; he’s almost gay, but not. Matty is their Listening Post.

Jordy commented that there is a lot of silence in Friday Brown. Vikki said one character doesn’t talk, he’s a street kid of fifteen; his father stood on his throat in his boots, so he can’t talk. She said that she never talked a lot, she communicates through hands and facial expressions. Her writing doesn’t have traditional romance, the story is better if there is an equal balance of power. She cops out before the sex stuff, because that is where the story ends. One character has an eighteen year old step sister; she ‘likes her Facebook updates’.

Julia Lawrinson talked about how the character Zoe, in Losing It takes the emotion out of her actions. Then she described some of the things that influenced her when she was creating the characters. The Bree character initially had something bad happen to her, but her daughter read the manuscript when she was twelve, and she didn’t like Bree; she thought she was out of keeping with the rest of the book. Julia wanted to show that some girls approach sex in that way. There are also boys around that want a meaningful relationship with a girl, to be lovers.

Jordy Kerr asked, has there been any negative feedback. Julia said, it won’t be on the school curriculum any time soon. Vikki Wakefield gave another perspective on the subject by drawing attention to the cover of her book; she said the Friday Brown cover is from Chapter 28. The scene is the biggest moment in the whole book.

Jordy asked Julia what her inspiration was; she said that she had that bet before Year 12. She remembers a Yarra scene in the Hillman Hunter at the Drive In with a Catholic boy; after the sex they knelt on the back seat and they prayed that she wasn’t pregnant. The book and film Puberty Blues was mentioned as they cover similar themes. Julia commented that Puberty Blues, the film version is quite dark, but it has the same sort of relationships. The Puberty Blues girls are quite passive and the boys are foul. In Julia’s book the girls take control. Both books deal with girls’ sexuality. Both the authors agreed that in the film of Puberty Blues they’ve changed the ages. There are young people doing these things and there are people who aren’t. Jordy asked how they feel about this. Julia said that her daughter went to a select high school; there’s a difference in attitude from girls who went to a Bogan school. When she was at her school, you did it if you hung around with the popular boys in school. Vikki commented, there’s a scene in Friday Brown where a girl is in a risky situation. It was never meant to be a love scene. Julia went to bogan high schools, the first time a guy she loved took the gloss away. Her characters make some really bad choices. Julia said that her first boyfriend is in jail for twenty five years. Vikki commented that her first boyfriend is in jail for assault.

Jordy asked do you write for a particular age. Julia said that she writes for 14-15 year olds; Vikki said that she just thinks about the characters. Their focus is on writing about people, and creating authentic teen characters.

They then talked about the Inky Awards, which are the Centre for Literature’s Children’s Choice Awards. They told the audience that they can win ten books on the list if you go to the website and vote.

©Susan Davies, 2012     spooky2013lib.wordpress.com

This report was written from longhand notes taken at the session, so it is not a complete record.