EMILY BRUGMAN

This debut novel from the Byron Writer’s Festival program manager delves into her family’s past

To what extent did your family history inspire The Islands?

The Islands charts my Finnish grandparents’ migrant route, from Finland to the Abrolhos Islands in WA, and finally to the far-south coast of NSW. The main characters are partly inspired by my family, while the events that take place in the book are mostly imagined.

What has been your creative path to your debut novel?

The Islands began as part of an honours thesis in 2015. I continued working on the project after graduating, and submitted a shorter version to the 2020 Australian Vogel’s Literary Award. To my great delight The Islands was shortlisted and I was offered a publishing deal with Allen & Unwin. The next year and a half was spent writing, editing, re-writing and honing the manuscript, with the help of an amazing editor.

Is there a book that made you love writing?

The Harp in the South by Ruth Park. What’s the best book you’ve read? The Tree of Man by Patrick White.

A book that had a pivotal impact on your life?

I fell in love with reading in Year 9 English when I read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. This was the first “hard” book I read, and it taught me that sometimes reading requires work, but that the reward is great.

The book you couldn’t finish?

The first time I tried to read The Tree of Man I couldn’t finish it …

A book you wish you had read but haven’t got to?

The Bible.

Your favourite place to read?

In bed.

What book do you re-read?

I’ve never been a big re-reader, but I will re-read Shirley Hazzard’s The Transit of Venus, which is so grand and complex that it demands a second reading.

What books are on your bedside table?

The Golden Age by Joan London. This is a beautiful, gentle book about a Hungarian refugee boy living in Perth at the height of the polio epidemic, complete with all of the joys and sorrows of life. I just adored it. I also recently read Snake by Kate Jennings. This is a lesson in economy of words. Jennings had an acutely observational eye, and said so much about people in so little words. Highly recommend. Next up: Devotion by Hannah Kent.

What are you writing now?

I’m taking a little break, but I do have a few vague ideas for a second novel swirling around – there are the Finns who settled in the mining towns of both Mount Isa and Lightning Ridge, whose experiences very much interest me; I also have a big Dutch family on the other side, whose migration story I’m not so familiar with. Or perhaps I’ll go somewhere completely different. Meanwhile, I’ve been using Kate Jennings’ Snake to prompt some writing exercises.

The Islands, by Emily Brugman: Allen & Unwin, $30, out now