Last Friday night, Geoff and I ventured round the corner to the local golf club for an author talk with Richard Glover hosted by The Bookshop, Umina Beach. We were very excited that he would come and visit us in Woy Woy, which is just a little off the beaten track and hardly located in author talk central.
Personally, I feel Richard Glover needs no introduction. However, since many of you are overseas, introduce him I will. Richard’s weekly humour column has been published in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age for over thirty years. He writes regularly for The Washington Post and also presents Thank God It’s Friday on ABC local radio.
To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t really sure what this whole thing was about. Being able to hear Richard Glover locally in person for an affordable $15.00 a head was a no-brainer and I asked no questions. Some of the book talks I’ve been to in the past have included a meal while at others, you’re lucky to get a seat. The price of this talk seemed to imply dinner wasn’t included unless it was something cheap and nasty like incinerated sausages on cardboard bread or cocktail frankfurts and tomato sauce. Not unsurprisingly, for our $15.00 we just got plain Richard Glover, and a seat and I wasn’t disappointed!
Now, before I proceed, I thought I’d share a couple of Richard’s recent columns to get you into the mood:
It’s a dog’s life for bread addicts going cold turkey on hot toast
The Height of Glamour: Look No Further Than An Australian Motel
Now that you’ve had a bit of an introduction, I had wanted to share a few biographical details, but he’s a bit of a slippery fish. Indeed, the biography page on his website actually has no biographical information whatsoever. However, I have found another website which says he was born on the 13th July, 1958 in Australia. That was pretty informative too, and Wikipedia mentioned that he spent some of his childhood in Papua New Guinea. So you’d have to say he’s pretty elusive, especially for a journalist and someone living in the public eye. Sounds like someone needs to pin him down and make him talk. Or, maybe his memoir will tell all, but somehow I doubt it.
Meanwhile, I have a secret confession to make. When I attend these author talks, I’m secretly hoping they might sprinkle some magic dust on the audience which will magically enable us to reach into the bottom drawer for that abandoned manuscript and actually get it published. Indeed, like him, we might even become repeat offenders. Unfortunately, there was no magic and so far, nothing has changed. I haven’t written anything more than a blog post and an email to my uncle since the big night. Yet, just to compound my agony, Richard Glover spotted my husband in the audience and singled him out for attention, but I’ll get to that.
Meanwhile, getting back to the talk itself, I was a bit stressed when I arrived. It was absolutely stupid of course, but that FOMO (fear of missing out) was rearing its ugly head again. But what what was I going to miss out on? A chair? Hardly, although ideally I wanted a good seat down the front. I was too late for the front row and was a few rows back, but still close enough. Geoff was still on his way so I raced over to buy Richard’s biography: “Flesh Wounds”. Other books were on sale, but at this point of the night, I was uncharacteristically iron-willed. Although one more book had managed to slip through my steely “no more books” resolve, the flood gates were still closed. Well, at least for now.
Geoff arrived while I was in the queue, which was great because he could take a photo of Richard Glover and I – not only for the blog, but for posterity.
Yet, first there was the signing and if you’ve ever been to a book signing, you’ll know a seasoned author has a message. Something not only to say, but to leave a personalised imprint in your book, and maybe even on your life, forever.
So, what did he write?
“Beat this!”
Note the exclamation mark!
Naturally, I felt like pulling out the boxing gloves immediately. “You think you’ve had a rough childhood, Richard? What about me?”
However, there was a long queue behind me and nowhere near enough time to pour out my tale of undiagnosed hydrocephalus and being a misunderstood outcast, followed by brain surgery in my mid-20’s to rectify the problem. That was hard enough, but before I’d even turned 40, I developed a rare life-threatening auto-immune disease where my muscles attacked themselves and were melting away, but at least there was semi-effective treatment. Then the disease started attacking my lungs causing fibrosis and now I’m being assessed for a lung transplant.
Surely, all of that trumps whatever Richard Glover has been through? After all, he seems to tick all the boxes of success. What could be so bad, he’s that confident it’s worse than anything else anyone has ever been through? I don’t know because I haven’t read the book yet, but I’ve been told he had a tough childhood and the book is sad. He did mention a few details, but I didn’t want to spoil it for you.
Of course, I know better than anyone that you often can’t see the effects of deep wounds on the surface, and yet somehow despite everything I’ve been through, I smile a lot more than most people. I am grateful for the good things which have happened…meeting and marrying Geoff, our two children, being able to buy our own home and having two loving parents, a brother and a big extended family and loads of friends. My life might be something of a rollercoaster ride, but I’m happy.
While I can’t speak for Richard Glover, I think he is too. Despite his difficult and precarious childhood, he has found love, family, stability and a very successful career. Indeed, I took a few notes during the talk and he got into some interesting territory.
He said: “People often ask me: `Why do you write about all these ordinary lives? Why don’t you write about something more important?”
He pointed to his “difficult childhood”. I “end up really valuing ordinary lives. Want to preserve and polish them. They’re very valuable.”
He went on to say: “If you’ve had difficulties, you try to turn them into light.” He’s “taken darkness and turned it into light” and he added “we should all do that”.
This struck a real chord with me. I’ve found at the times I’ve been at my lowest ebb, my sense of humour has gone through the roof and I’m an instant comedian. Geoff and I have a bit of a saying, which probably isn’t original: “darker the shadow, the brighter the light”. I am also aware that there is joy and beauty even in the darkest of places. Back when I was researching WWI soldier’s bios, I read a letter written by a soldier telling his family back in Australia about seeing birds in no man’s land during horrific trench warfare in France. As bad as it was or perhaps even because of it, he noticed and enjoyed this little bird. As much as we have hard times, there is always something uplifting to cling onto, but we might need to search hard to find it.
So, as much as I would like to ask Richard Glover more about how he got his start as a writer and got his first book published, I would also love to have a good chat with him about surviving hardship and how to help others who are still stuck in the quagmire and needing a bit of encouragement towards the light.
Anyway, that was just the start of his talk.
As he continued, Richard was talking about his book: “The Land Before Avocado: Journeys in a Lost Australia” which compares life today to the 60’s and 70’s of his childhood. One of the things he was lamenting about these days is noisy modern restaurants where you can’t hear anyone speak because they’ve removed all the curtains, carpet etc which baffle the sound. Then, he mentioned that the only thing these days to quieten the sound is the “hipster waiters with their Ned Kelly beards”. At this point, he suddenly pointed to Geoff in the audience and said “there’s one there”. Of course, instant fame and Tik Tok glory awaited. Well, they would’ve been if we’d managed to video the moment. So, as it stands, Geoff and I both hover in somewhat blissful anonymity. Except I did manage to get a photo of Geoff and Richard Glover together:
Meanwhile, like all good author talks, I was catapulted into action and bought two more more books: “The Land Before Avocado: Journeys In A Lost Australia” and “Love, Clancy: A Dog’s Letters Home.” While this might sound like my iron will had well and truly rusted away, all wasn’t lost. I did manage to resist one book, but only just. So just picture me now tapping away with teetering book towers on either side of the couch, dog on my lap, wondering how many more books it will take until I’m buried alive.
So, as another Australian great of the 1970’s ex Countdown host Molly Meldrum would say: “Do yourself a favour” and stick your nose into Richard Glover. Or, at least his books and not his arm pit. They’re just the thing to add to your Christmas reading list while you’re frying yourself to a crisp on the beach, but at least you’re not doing it 70’s style covered in coconut oil. Those were the days…
Have you read any of Richard Glover’s books, columns or perhaps heard him on radio or TV? What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.
Best wishes,
Rowena
Beyond the Flow 