Write On! Interviews: Author Francesca De Tores
Write On! interviews author Francesa De Tores
Francesca de Tores’ most recent novel, Saltblood, is a Sunday Times top-20 bestseller, and winner of the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize. She is the author of four previous novels (as Francesca Haig), published in more than 20 languages, with film rights optioned by DreamWorks. In addition to a collection of poems, her poetry is widely published in journals and anthologies. She grew up in lutruwita/Tasmania and, after 15 years in England, is now living in naarm/Melbourne.
WO: How would you describe your writing/work to someone new to it?
FDT: My novels so far have ranged from historical to post-apocalyptic – but I’d say that what they have in common is probably a focus on characters and on the language itself. I was a poet before I was a novelist, and I think that emphasis on lyricism and imagery runs through all my books. I also only realised after my fourth novel that all my novels also share a fascination with siblings, islands and oceans.
WO: Can you tell us a bit about your latest book Saltblood?
FDT: Saltblood tells the true story of Mary Read and Anne Bonny, the only two documented female pirates of The Golden Age Of Piracy. It focuses in particular on the extraordinary life of Mary Read, who was raised as a boy and served as a man in both the navy and army, before ultimately becoming a pirate, in the same crew as Anne Bonny.
WO: What inspired you to write in the first place, and what inspires you now?
FDT: Even as a young child, I was always determined to be a writer, mainly because reading gave me so much joy. I was so lucky to grow up in a house full of books, with parents who fostered my love of literature. These days, my inspiration is more or less the same: I read voraciously, so that I’m always marvelling at what can be done with words, which spurs me back to my own work.
WO: The current issue of Write On! explores the theme of ‘Difference.’ Writers have the potential to shape perceptions and influence how differences are understood and appreciated. Do you have a favourite example of a book that has inspired you to look at the world with new eyes, or even an example of how you have tried to build bridges through your own writing, in any genre?
FDT: Fiction is one of the great vehicles of empathy, because it allows us into the minds and lives of others, including people whose experience might be wildly different to our own. So many of the books that I’ve adored have immersed me in lives I could otherwise have barely imagined. Marlon James’ The Book Of Night Women and Toni Morrison’s Beloved, for example, both taught me more about the lives of enslaved people than any history lesson ever could.
Because of Mary Read’s complex relationship with gender, I was obviously thinking a lot about issues of gender while writing Saltblood; particularly given the growing climate of hostility towards trans and gender-diverse people and the threats to their rights. It was important to me that my representation of gender-queerness be nuanced and authentic. I hope that people who read Saltblood emerge with a better understanding of how gender can be mutable and also that Mary is never reduced merely to her gender identity, but is shown in her full humanity.
WO: What one piece of advice would you give an aspiring writer?
FDT: You can’t be a writer without being a reader, first and always. The best writers never stop always reading widely, and reading with openness and curiosity.
WO: Question from Instagram user: @grasshopper2407 Does winning the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize make you think differently about your next project? Is there more or less pressure to succeed?
FDT: Winning the prize has meant I’ve been able to work on my next novel with a little more confidence. As a writer, the vast majority of my daily work is just me at my laptop, which can feel isolating. The real boost from a prize like this is how it gives a heartening sense that my writing has connected with people.
WO: Can you tell us anything about future projects?
FDT: My next novel is about Alexander Selkirk, the real-life inspiration for Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. Selkirk was abandoned on a remote island, and not rescued until nearly four and a half years later. While it’s an extraordinary story of adventure and survival, I’m most fascinated by the questions Selkirk’s story raises, about what remains of a person’s identity when everything else is stripped away.
WO: Lastly, if you could choose one fictional animal/creature to be a pet or companion, who would it be and why?
FDT: Nighteyes, the wolf from Robin Hobb’s stunningly good Farseer fantasy series. Who could resist him? All the loyalty and beauty of a dog, but with the wildness (and the occasionally-useful savagery) of a wolf.
Saltblood is available on Amazon
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You can’t be a writer without being a reader, first and always. The best writers never stop always reading widely, and reading with openness and curiosity.