Sydney Writers' Festival: Big Beginnings - Ferdia Lennon, Kaliane Bradley & Dominic Amerena

Last week I was lucky enough to attend the Sydney Writers' Festival. 

The good news is that I was able to attend three events in person: a talk by Hannah Kent about her new memoir Always Home, Always Homesick (which I will write about in a separate post with a review of the books), Untrue Crime and Big Beginnings. 

Big Beginnings

In this panel discussion, three debut novelists discuss their emergence as writers and the journey to publication.

 

I was really looking forward to this one. Big Beginnings was a panel discussion between Ferdia Lennon (Irish, Glorious Exploits), Kaliane Bradley (British, The Ministry of Time) and Dominic Amerena (Australian, I Want Everything). The panel facilitated by Australian author Madeleine Gray, whose debt book Green Dot I loved and reviewed very recently.

 

Although I had hoped to try to read the books before the session, the only book I had read was The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (my thoughts here).

 

This session focused on their journey to publication. Gray led them chronologically through their writing process, seeking an agent and achieving publication. All three authors reflected on being taken by surprise at the speed of their success once their agents had found a publisher and not quite believing that they had found themselves so successful so quickly.

 

Interestingly, Bradley spoke about seeking an agent and publisher on an anonymous basis. Her fear was that because she worked in the publishing industry she would be picked up because of her connections, something that she wanted to avoid. Of the three authors, she spoke the most about the gruelling editing process, which for her took 12 months. I thought this was interesting because something I felt as I read her book was that it was trying to be too many things at once and could perhaps of needed a little more editing.

 

Lennon clearly had a long-standing fascination with Syracuse that he has been able to tap into when writing his novel, and Amerena spoke on his novel arising from what was a subplot in a different novel he had been writing. It was an interesting reflection for me on the creative process – that a story can arise from within a story. A common thread in the discussion of Lennon and Amerena was the strength of voice in their characters which helps the characters really come to life for the reader.

 

In short, this session was a fascinating insight into the world of first-time publication. It tried to demystify the process and experience of debut novelists, while celebrating the creative sparks that lead to powerful storytelling. Each author brought a different path and perspective, but what united them was a shared sense of surprise at their success and a deep commitment to their craft. It was especially interesting to hear about the behind-the-scenes work (for example, editing, self-doubt, persistence) that creates the polished books we read.