Shelf Reflection is our series where we explore the bookshelves and reading habits of writers. In this latest instalment, Melanie Saward talks to us about Blak lit, romance comedies and her new novel, Burn.
Image: Supplied.
Burn is your debut novel, about a teenage boy on the run from the police. Can you tell us how this story came about?
Originally, Burn was a short story that I wrote for the final-year project of my creative writing degree. I wrote a suite of interconnected stories that centred around a crime committed by a group of teenage boys. The story that would become Burn had the strongest voice—people kept telling me it was just begging to be turned into a novel.
Which writers and books were influential to the writing of your own book?
Tony Birch’s Ghost River was hugely influential. I love the way Tony writes characters who exist on the fringes. The nostalgia factor in his work also captured my attention. When writing Burn, I wanted to pull similar strings.
While I was editing Burn, I spent some time at Varuna, and when I had access to their library I absolutely devoured Melissa Lucashenko’s earlier books Hard Yards and Steam Pigs. Melissa has always been a favourite of mine. The way I write changed as a direct result of reading the speech that she did for the First Nations Australia Writers Network (FNAWN) summit in 2017, particularly the way she described always making sure her characters either have or are working towards four key things: humour, beauty, power and land. This has been a key consideration for me too.
Images: Ghost River (2015), Hard Yards (1999) and Steam Pigs (1997).
What does your book collection look like?
I have a gorgeous bookcase and desk with shelving that my dad built for me. I’m constantly rearranging, but at the moment it’s grouped alphabetically and by category (non-fiction, fiction, short stories, YA and kids). I try to style the shelves a bit, but shelf space is at a premium so it’s more functional than aesthetic. I could not do rainbow bookshelves, though, because I would never be able to find anything and I’m constantly referring back to my books for work. I also just have stacks and stacks of unread books in my bedroom and office. Like all obsessive readers, I tend to accumulate more books than I can read (and I love to ‘rescue’ them from second-hand shops too!).
Tony Birch’s Ghost River was hugely influential. I love the way Tony writes characters who exist on the fringes.
My most precious books belonged to my great-grandmother Muriel, who was a Wakka Wakka woman. I have poetry books of hers with tiny pencil annotations where she was working on understanding the meaning.
Image: Supplied.
What kind of reader are you?
Because reading is both my favourite hobby and a massive part of my job, I’m the sort of reader who has multiple books in multiple formats on the go. My PhD is all about romantic comedy, so I approach reading books in that genre like work. This means they are my during-the-day books. These ones never come to bed with me, mostly because I’d have to get up for a pen and a packet of flags to annotate!
I always start my day by reading a chapter or two of a book for pure pleasure, in bed with my first coffee of the day. Pre-PhD, these were always romance books, but now my favourite read-for-pleasure books are memoirs about France. They have the romance factor, but for me the romance is more about places like Paris and Provence, about bread and cheese and wine, rather than sexy love interests. The ones that started my obsession were Paris for Beginners by Rachael Coopes, Lunch in Paris by Elizabeth Bard and A Year in Provence and its sequels by Peter Mayle.
Like all obsessive readers, I tend to accumulate more books than I can read.
I’m travelling a lot at the moment, so I have my Kobo loaded up with library books. I usually have one non-fiction and one fiction physical book, and I always have an audiobook on the go for commuting or winding down at night-time.
I used to be the sort of person who had to finish every book I started, but I’m much harsher these days. I try only to buy books I know I’ll finish and want to reread, but if it’s a library book (which all the ebooks and audiobooks I read are), I am much more inclined to DNF. This plan backfires on me all the time and I often find myself buying a book I read from the library because I loved it so much!
Do you have any romance faves?
Anita Heiss always and forever! Blak women, shoes and sexy men. Who could want more? I’ve also loved Jodi McAlister’s Here for the Right Reasons and Can I Steal You for a Second. Genevieve Novak’s Crushing made me cry for feeling seen, Saman Shad’s The Matchmaker was so much fun and Karina May’s Duck à l’Orange for Breakfast made me insatiably hungry.
What books are you constantly recommending other people read?
I will always, always tell people to read more Blak books. Obviously, I’ve already mentioned Tony Birch and Melissa Lucashenko, but I’m the sort of person who is always gifting copies of my favourites like Ellen Van Neerven’s Personal Score and Evelyn Araluen’s Dropbear.
And I always tell my friends with kids to get hold of the Little Ash books by Ash Barty and Jasmin McGaughey, with gorgeous illustrations by Jade Goodwin.
What are you currently reading?
I’m currently reading At the Foot of the Cherry Tree by a fellow debut author, Alli Parker. It’s a fictionalised retelling of her grandparents’ love story: her grandmother was Australia’s first Japanese war bride. I don’t usually read a lot of historical fiction: I have to really trust the author. Because this is Alli’s own family story, and because Alli and I have been friends for a while, my trust of her as an author was always set. The book is beautiful (both the cover and the story).
What’s next for you?
I’m working on my rom-com that will be coming out next year, as well as a series of middle-grade books that I’m co-writing with my tidda Brooke Blurton.
