Abstract: This interview with Kerry O'Brien for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation '7.30 Report' programme was televised on 21 June 2007. KERRY O'BRIEN: Coincidentally tonight, as governments continue to grapple with the on-going social crisis in Aboriginal communities, Indigenous author Alexis Wright has just been announced as the winner of the Miles Franklin Award, Australia's most prestigious literary prize, for her second novel Carpentaria. An Indigenous member of the Waanyi nation of Queensland's far north, and long-time activist on Aboriginal affairs, Alexis Wright's sweeping, poetic book explores the rich mythology, chequered history and present day drama of her Gulf country homeland, and was praised by judges as the standout in a highly competitive field, which included dual Booker Prize winner, Peter Carey. Alexis Wright, who has also been shortlisted twice for the Commonwealth Prize, has clearly arrived as an important Australian writer. She would have viewed today's action by the Howard government with mixed feelings, having written a book called Grog War ten years ago, about how hard it was for the Aboriginal Community of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory, to have alcohol restrictions introduced in the town. I spoke with Alexis Wright, as the Prime Minister was preparing to announce his national emergency in Aboriginal affairs. Alexis Wright, you've been a long time getting to this point. What have you sought to achieve with Carpentaria? ALEXIS WRIGHT: Oh, a fine book, a fine novel. That was the hope, that I would do a good and honourable piece of writing that celebrated something of who we are, but also contained our realities and was done as authentically as I possibly could make it, because it was telling a big story and it was based in the Gulf country which I consider is my traditional homeland. And I wanted to give something back to a lot of people who've given me a lot over the years and have spent time trying to help me to understand who we are and the sort of person I ought to be. K O'B: Describe the influence of your grandmother in Cloncurry on your life and ultimately on your writing. A. W: At a very early age from about the time, I think when I was about three, I would run away from my mother and go down to my grandmother's place. She lived a couple of kilometres away. I just knew the way. So I spent a lot of time with her and with her taking me round in the bush and down the river and all around the place, outside of Cloncurry. And she talked all the time about the Gulf country and always wanting to return there and the way she described it was only something that I could imagine at the time. K.O'B: You've said that, like many Aboriginal people, your grandmother collapsed history and assimilated the remote Dreamtime into the present in order to explain her attachment to Country. What do you mean by collapsing history? A. W: We come from a long history and association in this country, we have got ancient epical stories that tell about how the land has been created, and that is still very important to Aboriginal people whether they live in urban areas of the country or remote areas. And the way people tell stories; they will bring all the stories of the past, from ancient times and to the stories of the last 200 years (that have also created enormous stories for Indigenous people), and also stories happening now. It is hard to understand, but all times are important. I have also studied writing and literature from overseas, where other writers have a long association with their country. Carlos Fuentes, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Eduardo Galeano, South American writers, and also the French-Caribbean writer, Patrick Chamoiseau. K O'B: What have you learnt? A. W: What I have learnt is that they have shown me how to write all times. How you write a book like Carpentaria that incorporates all times. …
Publication Year: 2010
Publication Date: 2010-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 2
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