Amra Pajalic

Rebecca Stead in conversation with Pam Macintyre
Rebecca has a unique perspective on the world. She intrigued me and I’m adding her books to my to read list. When You Reach Me, her newest novel, deals with time travel-something that I’m instantly attracted to. She shared a beautiful anecdote that made me tear up.

Her mother worked as a secretary for years and got her dream job as an editor. Her father passed away a few years earlier and it was a source of regret to her that he couldn’t see what she’d achieved. Her mother didn’t want Rebecca to feel this sense of regret and told her, ‘I don’t want you to ever fear that I won’t share your achievements, because I have already imagined everything you could achieve with your life.’ What a beautiful sentiment and an amazing mother.

Brenton McKenna was featured. He’s the author of graphic novel Ubby and the Underdogs which a homage to his grandmother, a woman who had an incredibly tough life and came out fighting. This is the first indigenous graphic novel published. The setting is Broome post world war II and he said Ubby was a legend in Broome and everyone knew her. He talked about having reading difficulties and how it was only when he discovered graphic novels that he was able to embrace the written word. It really brought home the role of graphic novels in bringing troubled readers to the fold.

Two great panels that really stood out

Dangerous Arrangements: Jane Burke AKA J.C. Burke, Kirsty Eager, Denis Wright
The topic was violence in books and the discussion was really interesting about responsibility to young people about depicting violence.

Kirsty Eager-Raw Blue-deals with sexual abuse, and her latest Saltwater Vampires
Kirsty was of the view that we shouldn’t patronize to young people. They are exposed to and are victims of violence. By depicting this in fiction we are giving them tools to be able to process and deal with this. In answer to the question is there a line that she wouldn’t cross, Kirsty said that she purposely did not include details of the sexual assault in Raw Blue. She said that when details are included in the media it is disrespectful to the victims and is feeding the violence. She received a big round of applause for this.

Denis Wright’s debut novel is Violence 101 and the character is a sociopath. He read an extract where the character attempts taxidermy and let’s say that it was not for the fainthearted, but what saved it from a true horror fest is the wry and self-aware tone of the protagonist. Denis is a teacher and the character is an amalgam of students he’s worked with. He wrote the book because students were telling them there was nothing that they were interested in reading.

Jane Burke’s latest novel is Pig Boy about a young boy who seems to be blamed for something he didn’t do and seeks a job as a pig hunter. In a later panel she shared the research she undertook for this novel, including photos of her gutting a pig. Quite full on. Her novel is intriguing as it features a different take on redemption.

Three very interesting novels that I’ll be reading.

The second panel that really got me going was

Love and Other Bruises featuring Melina Marchetta, Cath Crowley, Laura Buzo, Lilli Wilkinson
Cath Crowley talked about wanting romance to feature the awkward moments that happen. She shared a story from a school visit. She retreated to a room between sessions and a young man followed her, complaining that his girlfriend had just broken up with him and that it was such a shock. A few minutes later his girlfriend turned up, covered in eggs and flour. It seemed that the boyfriend was the culprit, but he didn’t see the correlation between egging her and being dumped. Hysterical.

Lilli spoke about how falling in love is the universal theme we all share and it should be celebrated and not criticised. She writes female characters who can rescue themselves.

Someone shared the story that how these awkward moments are being eroded by technology. They witnessed a young girl walking up to a boy and handing him her mobile. He keyed in his number and she left. This was done in complete silence. A good point. In my day and age it was sending the best friends to negotiate the terms of going out and then doing the ceremonial public walk where everyone witnessed your communion to the kissing place.

They had a discussion about sex and all the authors were of the less is more leaning, although Laura Buzo made the point that when she was young she was obsessed with reading sex acts in books because that was her only point of reference. It brought back memories about my obsession with romance novels in my teens and why exactly I was obsessed with this.

They also touched on the movement by some female authors to start a female prize for literature because all of the shortlisted authors are skewed toward the male persuasion. Someone made the point that this is not the case with YA and this year’s Prime Minister’s YA shortlist featured all women, with three authors who were on the panel.

Conclusion:
Overall it was a great conference. There were a few more sessions in the afternoon that I had to miss to get home early, but I really enjoyed myself. It was lovely just to relax and soak in the atmosphere and inspiration. Now I have a list of books to follow up and read.

Highlight-seeing my book for sale by Readings. For some reason had tears in my eyes. With desperate eagerness asked if they were selling. Chocked up when told yes.

Stand out panels:

Cassandra Clare-fantasy author
Was amazing. Sat on stage and told stories about her writing process. Called herself an urban researcher and says she became a writer because of ‘peculiar obsessions and interests.’ Was laugh out funny. Read an extract of her to be published book and really got excited. She’s on my to read list.

Great expectations panel with Melina Marchetta, Cassandra Clare and Marcus Zusak
My only dissapointment-was a short panel. Felt cheated. Like I’d just settled in for a great tv show, only to have it cancelled. They were great storytellers, but what really resonated was their dedication to the craft of writing.
Marcus ‘Book is ready to be published when it’s tightly written and I know I won’t be embarrassed by it after publication.’
Melina ‘I’ve never sent anything off to print that I didn’t think was ready.’
Marcus on optioning The Book Thief for movie. ‘I took the money and it’s out of my hands. Figure I can’t lose. If it’s a bad adaptation everyone will say how good the book is. If it’s a great adaptation everyone will buy more books.’
Cassandra quoting Stephen King on movie adaptations. ‘He was asked in an interview how does he feel about his books being ruined by movie adaptations. He pointed to his bookshelf and said, they’re not ruined. They’re right here behind me, exactly as I wrote them.’
On the worst question they’d been asked by an audience member:
Marcus: ‘Doing a school visit to a boys school who are all looking at him murderously because it’s their PE period. A boy at the book with toilet brush hair keeps catching his eye and he’s connecting with him while talking. Question time and toilet brush lifts his hand. Toilet brush asks “Are you bisexual.” Two hundred boys explode into laughter. Marcus waits until it all dies down. ‘Why?’ he asked. ‘You interested.’
Cassandra: ‘Can I have your blood?’
Melina: ‘How much money do you make?’

Personal epiphanies:
Been tortured with second book. Feel under pressure to finish quickly, to make it good, etc. Realised today:
1. It will take as long as it takes. The most important thing is that it’s a great book that I’ll be proud of when published.
2. It’s all about character. Forget everything else, fall in love with the character, be desperate to tell her story and the rest will come.
3. Forget about the audience. Forget about who will read it and how will they feel. Write it for myself first, last, and only for myself.

Now it’s time to take my advice and put these lessons to the test.

And I’m back tomorrow. Looking forward to more inspiration and good vibes. Also great to catch up with familiar faces. Had a plan I was going to be pushing What a Muslim Woman Looks Like to teachers and librarians. But I just loved being able to relax and enjoy myself. Didn’t take one note. Just listened and took it all in.

A feature in Brimbank Weekly promoting the second print run of the book. You can order a copy for the price of postage on the project website

Article link

The project What a Muslim Woman Looks Like was featured in Municipality magazine. You can read the article as a PDF by selecting the link.

Municipality

My husband and I were featured in the local newspaper.

Well last night was a happy night in the Pajalic household when the Ada Cambridge Prize was announced at the opening night of Williamstown Festival. My husband Fikret won equal first prize and I was highly commended. If I was going to lose, I’m glad it’s to him.

I wasn’t able to attend the ceremony because of my throat infection so Fikret went and represented the Pajalic household. An extract of his short story was read by actor Margot Knight who did an amazing performance peace. He was quite emotional and awe-struck by the experience.

There’s also a cute little anthology of the shortlisted stories and poems that I’m looking forward to reading. We want to congratulate all the winners and shortlisted contestants:

Winners (joint first prize)
Fikret Pajalic Shades of Grey
Lucia Nardo Things we don’t talk about

Highly commended:
Amra Pajalic In Treatment
Silk Chen Man of Honour

Short-listed:
Anna Brasier They say…
Ross Kinnish The Umbrella Tree

I want to say how proud I am of my husband. He’s been quietly plugging away with his writing while being the full time breadwinner. This is the acknowledgement he’s needed and I know that this is the first of many achievements to come.

Congratulations Fikret. Your story is amazing and you’ve definitely got it. I love you to bits.

From the website: I enjoyed reading the stories that the women told, their life experience and the generous nature of their willingness to share with the reader. I realised that all women are the same and that Muslim women are just like me. We share the same stories and hardships, resilience and feelings. Like me these women are one of many who make up this melting pot of women called Australians.
Vesna, St Albans

I concluded from the book that each and every woman in this book is a fabulous role model. I admire the sheer willpower some of these women have to achieve their aims, breaking down both their own internal (inner community) and external (mainstream community) barriers.

I hope the book changes other readers perception of Muslim women – “Women, we are ONE, but we come in so many different shades, textures, inner strength and experiences”….

Let’s continue the journey and break down those barriers further.

Senada, Footscray

For more information about the project go to our website

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It’s been a quiet week of thinking and reading. I’ve had a thought for an element I wanted to add to my novel. It was an idea I had originally, but decided it didn’t have a place in this novel. Then I began second-guessing myself. After a nice long walk the answer came and in the end it was easy. Is this something my character would do? No, it does not fit who she is on the page. Ergo, the idea will be shelved for another novel.

Speaking of my next novel-so many ideas, so many things I would like to explore. I think I need to write more short stories and let out some of this stuff percolating. Otherwise I try to do a mash up in my current project. The problem is I stopped hand-writing because of my carpal and I loved doing morning pages. It gave me the opportunity to explore my subconscious and capture the freshness of ideas and see what had legs to stand as a piece of fiction.

Went to the library and got a bunch of books. There’s something about reading that gets me back on track. Immersing myself in another world gives me the opportunity to let my brain put things together. Was hankering for a good mystery novel and struck gold with Val McDermid’s A Darker Domain. I’ve seen McDermid’s name being praised on various blogs and she has well deserved props. Loved the book, the characterisation, the structure, the unveiling. I’ll be looking for more of her work.

I love mystery novels, but it’s hard to find one that hits the spot. I’m over the procedural crime novel and serial killers. They are so dreary and typical. I like the warmth of a regular murder mystery and the exploration of a world. My favourite authors are Nicci French and Minette Walters. Any other recommendations?

Thank you for the opportunity to reiterate the success of the book. Some of the stories were very truthful and surprising with their honesty. I do see the dilemma of the scarf and it’s good to read the independence that the women show in the book. Well done.

Margaret

While I actually knew most of what was in the book, I just thought it was a really good way of showing people that there is no one size fits all for what we label a ‘Muslim Woman’.

Colleen, Footscray

For more information about the book visit the website

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