Ingrid Christensen (left)
and Mathilde Wegger
on the way to Antarctica in 1931
My guest today is Jesse
Blackadder who is fascinated by landscapes, adventurous women and very cold
places. Her novel After the Party made
the Australian Book Review list of
favourite Australian novels in 2010. The Raven’s Heart won the Varuna HarperCollins Manuscript Development Award and
was published in Australia in 2011 and in the UK, USA and Canada in 2012. Chasing the light: A novel of Antarctica,
which she wrote as part of a Doctor of Creative Arts, has just been released.
Jesse won the 2011-12 Australian Antarctic Arts Fellowship and the 2012 Guy
Morrison Prize for Literary Journalism. She has been a writer in residence in
Alaska, Antarctica, outback NSW and Byron Bay. Her first children’s novel Stay: the last dog in Antarctica is
coming out in 2013, as part of the Amazing Animals series.
What or who inspired you to first write?
Reading, reading and more
reading. I was one of those kids who read at night under the covers with a
torch long after I’d been told to put the light out, and read in the day under
the desk at school until the teacher asked me a question. I adored the way
books transported me into other worlds. Writing seemed a natural extension of
that and I wrote my first ‘novel’ at age 12 to entertain my friends.
What is the inspiration for your current book?
I’m inspired by two things –
landscapes and characters. This book was inspired by the power of the Antarctic
landscape and what it means to people, and by the Norwegian women who travelled
there in the 1930s, while women from other parts of the world were refused
positions on Antarctic expeditions.
Is there a particular theme you wish to explore in
this book?
The impact that a place like
Antarctica can have on a person – how it can be transformative, and also bring
someone up against the parts of themselves they find confronting. My characters
all have some idea what it will mean to them to land on Antarctica – and all of
them are mistaken.
What period of history particularly inspires or
interests you? Why?
I’m attracted to characters
and events rather than particular periods of history – hence the 350+ year leap
in time and global leap in geography between Chasing the Light (set in Antarctica in the 1930s) and my previous
novel The Raven’s Heart (set in
Scotland in the 1560s). However, having spent the past three years hanging out
in the early twentieth century, I must say it’s a fascinating period and I
expect I’ll be heading back there again soon.
What resources do you use to research your book/s?
I’m a writer who likes to use
my two feet. Walking in my character’s footsteps, in the places where the story
takes place, is the most important research for me. The internet is useful for
quick fact checking, but most of my other fun research happens in archives,
books and through talking to people.
Which authors have influenced you?
Jeannette Winterson has been
a huge influence since the start of my writing life – she approached historical
settings in such profoundly original, imaginative ways that you can hardly call
her books ‘historical fiction’. Sarah Waters showed me that lesbian characters
can be enchanting and compelling to all readers, and James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small books
about the life of a Yorkshire vet in 1930s-50s have been a favourite since I
was a teen – epitomising how an appealing, humble character can drive even a
simple story.
What do you do if stuck for a word or a phrase?
Scribble in whatever comes to
mind and come back to it later.
Is there a particular photo, piece of art, poetry or
quote that strikes a chord with you? Why?
That varies depending on what
I’m working on. There are many Antarctic quotes that I love (you can see some
of them on my short video about how writers describe Antarctica at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzpETZNLp28). Barry Lopez, the great nature writer, said of
Antarctica “…tell those who have never visited here what it is like… even if
you only say what it’s like to see the sun reflecting off the Royal Society
Range… we value each gift we receive by passing it on.”
Blue Ice, Antarctica
What advice would you give an aspiring author?
Write, write, write, and
read, read, read.
Tell us about your next book.
I’m writing a series of
junior fiction novels (for 9-12 year olds) about amazing animals. The first
one, was inspired by meeting ‘Stay’ in Antarctica. Stay started life as a
fibreglass seeing eye collection dog who was kidnapped from Hobart in 1981 and
smuggled to Antarctica just as the last huskies were being removed permanently
from the continent. Something happened to her in that process – she came to
life in some way and has become a famous Antarctic character. Stay: the last dog in Antarctica is
inspired by her real life adventures and in it, she is smuggled, liberated,
repatriated, incarcerated and dognapped all over again, having plenty of
Antarctic adventures while worrying about how to return the money she’s raised
for the guide dogs. I’ll be back into adult historical fiction in a few months
time.
You can read more about Jesse and her books at her website. Connect with her at Facebook and Twitter - and be sure to visit her wonderful blog.
It’s the early 1930s.
Antarctic open-sea whaling is booming and a territorial race for the mysterious
continent is in full swing.
Aboard a ship setting sail
from Cape Town carrying the Norwegian whaling magnate Lars Christensen are
three women: Lillemor Rachlew, who tricked her way on to the ship and will stop
at nothing to be the first woman to land on Antarctica; Mathilde Wegger, a
grieving widow who’s been forced to join the trip by her calculating
parents-in-law; and Lars’s wife, Ingrid Christensen, who has longed to travel
to Antarctica since she was a girl and has made a daunting bargain with Lars to
convince him to take her.
As they head south through
icy waters, the race is on for the first woman to land on Antarctica. None of
them expect the outcome and none of them know how they will be changed by their
arrival.
Based on the little-known
true story of the first woman to ever set foot on Antarctica, Jesse Blackadder
has captured the drama, danger and magnetic pull of exploring uncharted places
in our world and our minds.
PRAISE FOR JESSE BLACKADDER:
‘she posits the ephemeral
nature of humans against a weighty sense of history and an ageless landscape,
something she does with an incisive grace that truly elevates her story ... she
doesn’t hit one wrong note’ Sunday Telegraph
‘Her prose is both sexy and
chaste, ruthless and tender, bringing out these elements in all her characters’
Lambda Literary
Thanks for this great interview. Absolutely love the cover and can't wait to get a copy of "Chasing the Light" here in the U.S. It sounds so intriguing!
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