Richard Yaxley is a Brisbane-based author who has written extensively for young adult audiences. His novels include Joyous and Moonbeam, This Is My Song, The Happiness Quest, A New Kind Of Everything, Harmony, Leonardo Forever, and Something Somewhere.
Richard has been a winner of the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Young Adult Literature, the ACU Book of the Year Award and the Queensland Premier’s Literary Award, also for Young Adult writing. His work has been acknowledged as Notable for Older Readers by the Children’s Book Council of Australia, and he has been the recipient of fellowships from the May Gibbs Literature Trust and Varuna, the National House for Writers. He is a regular presenter of writing workshops and has been a judge for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards and the Queensland Literary Awards.
Richard has also written or co-written over twenty-five textbooks for classrooms across Australia. In 2011, he was awarded a Medal in the Order of Australia for services to education, literature and the performing arts.
The Rise and Fall of Quentin Quinn is set to be released in 2027.
What inspired you to be a writer?
I was a precocious reader and speaker as a child, and being good at something often means you make an intrinsic decision to value it more than might otherwise be the case. We had lots of books at home because my parents were passionate about literacy, plus I had a couple of teachers who actively encouraged my love of storytelling.
One year, in primary school, I won my first academic award. The prize was a book called Pillars of Crystal (readers of The Rise and Fall of Quentin Quinn will find that same book referenced in the story). I loved winning that award and I loved owning and reading that book. Thereafter, I was determined to write a book myself.
What prompted you to write 'The Rise and Fall of Quentin Quinn'?
The story is about young people who are sick of being perceived as 'small', and I met plenty of those in my time as a teacher.
Schools are hierarchies, formally so for staff, less formally but with in an equivalent manner for students. Some kids rise, either naturally or with singular determination, others lump along having good and bad moments, some are barely noticed or known. We can pretend otherwise but schools reflect society in that individual privileging does occur and the effects of that can be long-lasting. Go to a school reunion and you'll soon see how the patterning that was established during those early years more often that not continues unabated into adulthood.
I wrote this book as an acknowledgment of the need to value ALL young people, both in and out of schools, not just as a form of lip service but as a genuine gesture and practice.
Do you have any more books in the pipeline?
Always! My strength as a writer is that I have plenty of ideas, which keeps me plugging away. My weakness as a writer is that I have plenty of ideas, which can make it difficult to determine which pop-up phrase or late night vision is worth pursuing.
I like to try different forms and styles, and create for different audiences. I'm not and never will be one of those (admirable) types who can commit to a genre and stay the course.
What is your professional background?
I began my working life as a shoe salesman, then lost that job because I had to work on Friday nights and my mates kept hanging around the shopfront, wanting to go out. As was the fashion in the late 1970s, I did an Arts degree and was subsequently employed by the federal government. Having majored in literature, bureaucratic logic dictated that I be placed in the department's finance sector. I survived that near-death experience and decided to become a teacher, a career that lasted for over 30 years and gave me great joy and occasional heartaches. I finished teaching after my writing career evolved into something more than a hobby, although I still visit schools for book talks and workshops.
Any advice you’d like to give to aspiring writers?
Everyone who has ever tried this career will talk about persistence and rightly so because that is the number one quality that is required. I'll add resilience and self-belief. With respect to the former, you do need to be able to handle knock-backs, criticism and the long fallow periods that can occur when nothing much is happening for you. With the latter, I think it's crucial that you back yourself and, equally, back your own vision. As with all artistic fields, the publishing world can tend to lurch from one zeitgeist moment to another, and it can be enticing to jump onto whichever bandwagon is on trend. I see that as a mistake. The critic that has the most impact on me is my inner self. If I can't satisfy him, then it's time to move onto something else. Like selling shoes.
Who/what inspires you?
People who live quietly and effectively, empowered by the desire to make their part of the world as worthwhile as it possibly can be.
What are your hobbies, interests and favourite books?
I like owls. And scrambled eggs on sourdough.
I do Pilates. It hurts, but I feel better afterwards. (My early childhood took place in a fundamentalist Christian environment, meaning that I learned quickly about the pleasures inherent in suffering).
I love to travel. My wife and I go to Europe because we like cobblestones and cathedrals. We especially enjoy the Greek islands where, oddly enough, there are less cobblestones and very few cathedrals.
I have favourite authors rather than books. In no particular order: Cormac McCarthy, Ann Patchett, Helen Garner, Peter Temple, Robert Crais, Elmore Leonard, William Shakespeare, Roddy Doyle, Kazuo Ishiguro, Ian McEwan.
Footnote: Just to clarify, I eat the eggs but not the owls.
How can readers contact you?
Email: richardyaxley62@gmail.com
Website: https://richardwyaxley.com/
Facebook: richardyaxleyauthor
Instagram: ryaxley
Via the Hawkeye Publishing contact page
