The older I get, the more vulnerable I feel about my writing.
2. What is your nickname?
I don’t have a nickname, but I have the skin name, Nakamarra. This was given to me when I worked at the school at Papunya (an Aboriginal community in the Western Desert) during the late 1990s.
3. What is your greatest fear?
Talking about my work in progress.
4. Describe your writing style in ten words.
I seem to use a different style for every book…
5. Tell us five positive words that describe you as a writer.
Place, place, place, place, place.
6. What book character would you be, and why?
When I was nine years old my mother died and my father simply disappeared. Pippi Longstocking, whom I already loved, became my ideal role model. She too had a dead mother and an absent father, but she lived alone (except for her horse) and led a fantastic and utterly free life.
7. If you could time travel, what year would you go to and why?
1968. I was lucky enough to be at university during the year when students around the world claimed the right to stand up for justice, to challenge what was wrong in society, and to love each other freely. As the contemporary Australian and international political scene becomes increasingly selfish and conservative, I would cheerfully return to that time of innocence.
8. What would your ten-year-old self say to you now?
Will you never grow up?
9. Who is your greatest influence?
My mother.
10. What/who made you start writing?
My mother, by reading to me and telling me stories.
11. What is your favourite word and why?
Grace. It is what I aspire towards.
12. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be?
A comprehensive anthology of poetry.
Nadia Wheatley is an Australian author of books for children and adults including picture books, novels, biography and history. Her previous titles include My Place, Pupunya School Book of Country and History, and Luke's Way of Looking. Her latest picture book, Flight, is illustrated by Armin Greder published by Windy Hollow books. Visit Nadia's website and Facebook page for more information about her books and events.
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