There Is No Nobody’s Land

Thu 20 Sep 2018 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Terra Nullius coverA year ago on September 7th I queried Hachette Australia about North American rights to Claire G. Coleman’s Terra Nullius. I’d read Veronica Sullivan’s review in the Guardian and was immediately intrigued. Intrigued doesn’t quite catch the level of my curiosity, though. When I was a kid one of my favorite novels was John Wyndham’s The Chrysalids — which happily for me is in print from our friends at the New York Review Books — a post apocalyptic story of a kid who realizes that his differences puts him in danger. The Guardian review reminded me of The Chrysalids and when I looked for a US edition of Terra Nullius I was frustrated, then delighted, to find it did not yet exist.

When I reached out to Hachette Australia they first emailed then mailed me the book, the latter took some time thanks to Massachusetts being quite far from Australia, and on October 27th I made an offer on North American rights. By November 3rd negotiations were concluded and we were a go to publish. In the intervening eleven months we’ve sent review copies hither and yon throughout the US (and a few to Canada).

Terra Nullius starts with a kid, Jacky, running, and never stops. It is a page turner that will resonate uncomfortably for many readers in postcolonial countries and I believe it will be yet another in the many steps needed in the ongoing discussions of land ownership, land use, reparations, owning, belonging, home, &c. in North America the way it has in Australia.

When the book came out in Australia, Claire was featured at many book festivals and interviewed a lot. I’ve listened to most of these (links copied from her website, thanks, Claire!) and recommend leaving a tab open and listening to a few. Besides being a great writer, she is a live spark and well worth listening to:

Home Truths: Telling Australian Stories. Recoded at Sydney Writers festival, on ABC iView.

Radio National the Hub on Books Great Debate – Write What You Know on ABC Radio National.

I had a great chat with Andrew Pople on Final Draft, 2ser Sydney, you can hear it here.

The second episode of The Meanjin Podcast has me talking to Jonathan Green.

I spoke to Jonathan Green about Australia, the White Invaders and who the real nomads are on Blueprint for Living.

I spoke to Beverley Wang for It’s Not a Race Season 2 Episode 2 – For Us Happy Endings Feel Dishonest.

Panel at Melbourne Writers Festival 2017, facilitated by Adelle Walsh, featuring Samantha Shannon, Sami Shah, Garth Nix and Me – Reality and Fantasy (Youtube)

Rhianna Patrick interviewed some authors, including me, at Genrecon for her podcast.

The Wire – Reframing Australia’s History of Invasion. My interview with Bonnie Parker.

I was on ABC Brisbane on the 4th of July 2017 talking about my book and what inspired me to write it for NAIDOC weekhttp://www.abc.net.au/radio/brisbane/programs/evenings/evenings/8657932. I am on at about 1 hour and 29 minutes in.

Hear me talk about Aboriginal literature, family history and the frontier wars on Brisbane Murri Radiohttp://www.989fm.com.au/podcasts/lets-talk/claire-coleman/

I was interviewed by Triple J breakfast, it’s somewhere in this podcast: http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/media/s4497391.htm