tresspassmag Interview with Oliver Phommavanh

From tresspass magazine

Thai-riffic!, released in June this year, is Oliver Phommavanh’s first novel. We spoke to the Sydney-based writer and comedian about the process to publication, writing practice and being a part of the ever-growing Asian-Australian writing community.

How long have you been writing?/What attracted you to writing?

I started writing weird and wacky stories back when I was in primary school. I used to make my friends laugh with all this randomness which got me in trouble with a few teachers. I’ve been a bookworm all my life, so I thought being an author was the dream job.

Also, I was the class clown throughout my school days, so I had heaps of things to write about and make fun of, which also got me into strife.

After a short stint as a primary school teacher, I took writing as a serious career move back in 2007, with a dusty old manuscript and a lot of determination.

What was writing for Growing Up Asian in Australia like?

Surreal. This was one of the opportunities that I got from networking, a writing friend suggested I give it a go. It was an honour to be included among names such as Shaun Tan, Khoa Do and Kylie Kwong…I went to the launch at the Sydney Writers Festival, signing books and everything. It made me hungrier to succeed and get published.

Has being a first-time author what you expected?

It’s been a wild ride. It’s never been a better time to be a first-time author with so many avenues such as social networking and the Internet fuelling new fan bases and making the author more
accessible to the reader.

What was growing up Asian in Australia like?

It was a blend of happiness and using humour to null any differences. I used to beat my friends to the punch of the typical Asian jokes. I guess I got used to the fact that Aussies poke fun at each other as a term of endearment so I didn’t really cop any slack from my friends. Through my family, I became proud of who I was and where I came from.

Do you feel part of an Asian-Australian revolution in Australian writing?

I hope so, there weren’t any Asian-Australian authors to look up to when I was a kid and so being an author was a hoop dream. And even when I was writing Thai-riffic!, books with Asian characters were few and far in between. So I knew that there are so many untold stories out there, about being caught between two cultures. The Growing Up Asian in Australia anthology was just the beginning of something huge. We’ve currently got second-gen Asian Australians who are beginning to be more comfortable with their identities now, and I hope we get some excellent writers to rise up and write about their perspectives and experiences.

There have been some cool Asian-Australians making their mark with kids, such as Gabrielle Wang and Li Cunxin. I’d like to think that kids will see me and be inspired to write and become authors, and that’s just not limited to Asians, but anyone really.

How long did it take to get Thai-riffic! published? Did you go through an agent?

It took me three years, from the countless drafts to having the book in my red hot hands. I did manage to find an agent for my work. I was getting advice from someone who worked for a manuscript appraisal agency, and didn’t know he was an agent. So when he looked at my sample work, he asked me to send the whole thing over. And the rest is recent history.

Ideal time of day to write

Anytime really, though I do particularly find mornings very good to write, along with an energy drink charging me up. But on busy days, I manage to squeeze in some writing time, otherwise I suffer withdrawal symptoms (mostly guilt).

Any other advice for aspiring authors?

Write your passion. I know it’s a cliché but it’s that’s the difference between a manuscript moving on to its 55th and final draft and one that’s thrown in the ‘too hard basket.’ Prepare to get your work smashed and rebuilt over and over again, and yes that’s a good thing because stories evolve for the better. Get your name out there, and that means lots of networking, meeting other writers and authors at writing groups, meetings, conferences, festivals etc. You never know who you’re going to meet.

Currently writing…

My second book, which is due in July for a 2011 release. And two other cool novels that I want to nut out too, I want to bring out a book each year, so I need to stay on top of my writing.

Currently reading…

Ha-ha, yes, it’ll change every couple of days, at the moment it’s Chris Morphew’s The Phoenix Files: Arrival.

Fave book of ’09 (that you didn’t write!)…

Nanny Piggins by R.A Spratt. It’s so un-PC and really stretches humour to all new levels. Also, the latest Wimpy Kid book by Jeff Kinney – man, I so wish I had written that, ha-ha. It’s just pure comedy in motion.

What kind of books would you like to see come out of Gen Y writers in Australia?

I like to see some more funny and witty stories, still waiting for something sharp like Douglas Coupland’s work to hit me in the face. I mean, it’s not all doom and gloom, right?

For more information on Oliver Phommavanh, visit: http://www.oliverwriter.com/ or his blog at winfree.com.au