ABOUT THE BOOK

Vivian Molloy hardly expected to retire early from teaching, but for her husband, Dave, she’d do anything. But when Dave abandons her after a weekend away, she returns home to their picturesque town in Tasmania, shell-shocked and alone with nothing to fill her days.

When an old colleague tries to rope her into teaching a writing class at the local library, Vivian is hesitant. How can she teach with her life falling apart? But it is the people she meets that help her remember who she is. Marilyn, tough-as-nails, has a secret passion for reading and a complex family life. Sienna, a young single mother, is trying to outrun her painful past. Quiet Oscar is housesitting for his sister, retreating from the mainland after losing his job.

As the writing class becomes a refuge and strangers become friends, its members will face decisions that will change their lives, and come to realise that when one door closes, others open in its place.

Q&A with Esther Campion

Can you tell us a little about The Writing Class and what inspired the story?

At some point just before the madness of the Covid pandemic, I was asked to deliver a ten-week writing program at Devonport Library in Tasmania. When the project was put on hold, I started to turn the idea into a novel. I’m no artist, but I remember sketching the classroom with a tall stick figure for the teacher, complete with badly drawn jewellery.

My characters became an ensemble that was inspired by the many students and colleagues I have had the privilege of working with in my career in adult education. Once we were able to actually deliver the program in real life, I continued to write the novel, fusing elements of our course with the fictional lives of the teacher and three students who are the focus of the book. I believe The Writing Class is ultimately an uplifting novel about stepping outside our comfort zones and reaping the rewards.

You have been in a writing group. What are the dynamics that happen in writing groups that you’ve drawn on to be included The Writing Class?

Ah now, that’s another novel entirely! But yes, I have indeed been a member of two writing groups and maintain strong ties with members of both of them. What I particularly love about any kind of adult education, at least any face to face or online form of social learning, is the camaraderie, the sense of community that comes out of having a shared goal. My fictional class puts together a book which reminds me of several anthologies both Eyre Writers in Port Lincoln in South Australia and Devonport Writers’ Workshop in Tasmania have produced over the years. I am proud to have been a contributor of poetry to a few of these.

Your novel, The Writing Class, is set in Tasmania. You emigrated from Ireland to Tasmania. What drew you to this island state?

I actually emigrated from Norway where I had been living with my family for three and a half years prior to moving to Port Lincoln in South Australia. I’d never been to this country, but my husband was determined to take up a role here. In a previous life, I’d studied Zoology, so I’d always thought it would be cool to come to Australia on holiday. After sixteen years, I can honestly say I love many things about this country. It’s just that I’m Irish before anything else and in the end of the day, no matter where you are, it’s all about the people you meet along the way.

If you could travel back in time, what would you tell the young Esther as she was just about to start on her writing journey?

I actually started writing in my forties. Not so young, but if I were forty again, and to anyone starting to write, I would say …

‘Park all thoughts of becoming famous. Park all thoughts of making money. Writing will put a dent in your bank account but a new song in your soul. It will be amazing if people read and enjoy your stories. The sky won’t fall in if they don’t. Go steady. Enjoy all the catch ups and conversations with the lovely people you will meet and those you will reconnect with along the way.’

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Esther Campion is from Cork, Ireland. She attended North Presentation Secondary School in Farranree, University College Cork and the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. Her Orcadian husband’s career has taken the family from Ireland to Scotland, Norway and South Australia. Esther now lives on a small property in north-west Tasmania with her husband, youngest child, smoochy cat, second chance poodle and a couple of ageing horses. While she has settled and thrived in every place she’s lived, she still calls Ireland home.