Bestselling and beloved Australian author MORRIS GLEITZMAN has written 45 books and was appointed the Australian Children’s Laureate for 2018–2019.
His latest novel, Childish, is filled with heart and humour and follows a young boy determined to solve a big problem.
AKINA HANSEN writes.
In 1969, Morris Gleitzman’s parents made the bold decision to move from their home in bustling London, England, to the sunny shores of Sydney, Australia.
Aged 16 at the time, Morris dreaded the move.
‘For the first few weeks after being dragged here by my adventurous parents, leaving much that I loved behind in London, I felt grumpily at one with all who suffer tyranny,’ Morris tells me.
While this period of cultural and social upheaval was disruptive, he’s since reckoned with his losses.
‘Years later, while researching and writing about refugees, I realised that missing out on a Thin Lizzy concert isn’t the worst injustice a person can suffer.’
As the years passed, Australia proved to be a deeply formative experience for Morris. Ultimately, it’s where he discovered his calling
to write.
‘I’ve been Australian for a long time now and have set most of my stories here. Like most writers, I love the intimate connections we have with our characters, while at the same time getting used to the frequent feeling of watching everything from a slight distance. I think early displacement can help a writer with this challenge. I write most often in first person but live a fair bit in third person.’
His popular 1989 novel, Two Weeks with the Queen, drew from those early experiences of displacement and went on to become an international bestseller, launching Morris’s career.
Today Morris is one of Australia’s most popular children’s authors. Beloved across many generations, he was appointed the Australian Children’s Laureate for 2018 and 2019.
‘I’ve come to think that our most worthwhile tasks and pleasures are multi-generational, so when a kid hands me a battered copy of one of my books that their mum or dad had in Year 5, I feel proud, flattered, even more hopeful, and only a teeny bit old.’
His works have become well known for their ability to approach serious topic with heart and humour. Importantly, Morris makes these often-taboo topics accessible for younger readers in books such as Grace, Extra Time, Loyal Creatures, Tweet and the series Once, Then, After, Soon, Maybe, Now and Always.
‘I think young people deserve and need to know the worst our species is capable of as well as the best. Very few will choose the worst as a career, but experiencing all possibilities in the safe place of a story will, I believe, help young people navigate to their place in the world.’
While his desire to confront hard truths has shaped much of his work, Morris’s stories are also grounded in humour and every day experiences. In fact, during his early years he held an eclectic mix of jobs, some of which have gone on to inspire his stories.
‘I first met cane toads during long night shifts at the edge of a cane field, and I ended up writing five books looking at the human world through their eyes. The dying art of delivering newspapers left me with a really good idea for a story that I haven’t written yet.’
His latest novel, Childish, is his 45th book and is set in Australia. He tells me how the idea for the novel came to him rather unexpectedly.
‘I’d been working on the outline of a story about three young brothers for a couple of months. In particular, the closeness and conflicts that brothers (and sisters) share. Then, out of the blue, a new character arrived. A boy who’s grown up on a remote country property without any brothers and sisters.’
Childish introduces us to Arkie, a young boy who moves from the country to the city to stay with his grandmother. Arkie befriends a girl named Dot whose family own a local Chinese restaurant. When Dot rides her bike into a pothole and breaks her leg, Arkie becomes determined to get the town’s potholes fixed.
‘I’m interested in how kids feel when they see problems that grown-ups don’t seem to be able to fix, or don’t seem to want to. I wanted to explore the idea that if you get good at solving small problems, maybe that makes you feel less scared of the big ones.
‘I love sharing their discovery that on our journey to where and who we want and need to be, problems can sometimes be our friends.’
Despite his young age, Arkie proves to be incredibly resourceful and systematic in his approach to problem-solving. He appeals to various council and business bodies responsible for overseeing the town’s road repairs and maintenance. And yet, at every stage his requests for help are rebuked by the adults in his life and his actions are reduced to being called ‘childish’.
‘I’m also interested in how kids feel about the word childish, especially when adults use the word about them. I can’t help noticing that we never call dogs doggish, fish fishish, or adults adultish.’
Accordingly, his book is aptly titled Childish, flipping the word on its head to celebrate the resourcefulness of children.
Morris has long celebrated the courage and resilience of children. And while he can’t recall the exact moment that led him down this writing path, he says, ‘I’m sure that moment was given to me in the pages of a book. To the author, whoever they were, thank you. To all the people who made it possible for me to have that book in my hands, thank you. To my imagination, which opened itself to that moment and ran with it, thank you.’ •
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Morris Gleitzman grew up in England and came to Australia when he was sixteen. After university he worked for ten years as a screenwriter. Then he had a wonderful experience. He wrote a novel for young people. Now, after 46 books, he’s one of Australia’s most popular authors.
He was appointed the Australian Children’s Laureate for 2018–2019.
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