Listening to the Ants Scream: October 2011

Here's an interview I conducted with Melbourne author Lili Wilkison a while back.

Find here website here.

BC: First off Lili, what inspired you to write Pink? Did the story take shape in your mind slowly over time, or did it kind of just pop into your head one day fully-formed and rearing to go?

LW: Three things inspired Pink:

1. I was sitting in Scott Westerfeld and Justine Larbalestier's living room, in 2006, and thought "what would happen in a story where someone went back into the closet?"

2. I wrote an article about "pink books" for girls - and how just because a book has a pink cover, doesn't mean the contents are insubstantial, and just because a book is fun and funny, doesn't mean it has nothing to say. The article involved me reading up a bit about the colour pink - about how it became associated with femininity during the Second World War (gay prisoners in Nazi concentration camps wore a pink triangle), and I made a list of all the things that were pink but not girly (pink slips, pink elephants, pinkeye, Pink Floyd etc).

3. US author and publisher David Levithan gave a talk at a Reading Matters Conference, where he talked about how hard it was being a gay teenager and never seeing yourself reflected on the shelves reflected in bookshops and libraries. He said how important it is for YA literature to represent all teenagers, not just straight white middle-class ones. And that made me think about the teenagers who weren't sure what box they fit into. And I wanted to write a story that said "To be honest, you don't ever have to decide which box you fit into, but you really really really don't have to decide when you're sixteen".

BC: Whilst reading Pink, I found that there was a strong sense of place, as though the settings were just as tangible as the amazing characters who made me laugh, wince and shed the occasional tear. Did you always intend to set Pink in the membranous backdrop of Melbourne? Obviously living there yourself would have helped with the descriptions of places like Melbourne Central and The Royal Arcade (one of my many favourite places to be in the city). I also couldn't help but notice that the students referred to Billy Hughes School for Academic Excellence as "The Castle". Isn't that what students of Melbourne High call their school?

LW: One of the many soapboxes that I like to pose on is one about urban Australian space. I think too many Australian novels are set in the outback - does it really reflect the experiences of most Australian teenagers? Australia is the most urbanised nation in the world. Not to say that there SHOULDN'T be books set in the outback, bush and country towns, but I'd like to see more books set in our cities and suburbs. So yes, I definitely wanted to set Pink in Melbourne.

And yes, well-spotted. I went to MacRob, and our brother school was Melbourne High. All our theatre productions were there, so I spent a lot of time at The Castle. Billy Hughes is sort of like a mix of both of them - a co-ed, more progressive version of both.

BC: I was talking to an ex-teacher the other day, and I suggested that they read your book (as one of the contexts studied in Year 12 English at our local high school is 'Identity and Belonging'). How would you feel if Pink was to be studied in schools?

LW: I'd love it. I don't think there's nearly enough YA taught in schools - there's practically none, which seems bizarre to me considering that a) there's so much amazing YA out there, and b) it's a surefire way of finding books that teenagers will actually engage with. I'd be pretty surprised if Pink did get picked up, though, because of the sexuality aspect. I've had a few librarians from Catholic schools come up to me at conferences and say how much they enjoyed Pink, but then add "of course we can't have it in our library". Which I think is really just not good enough. Pink is not an explicit or offensive book in any way - there's no sex or drugs, and only a teeny bit of alcohol (with unpleasant consequences). I think librarians have a responsibility to make sure that all their students are represented on the library shelves, and censoring what books come into the library is not the way to achieve that.

BC: Lastly, may I ask what the future holds for Lili Wilkinson?

LW: An excellent question. Let me answer it in six parts.

1. My next book will be called Love Shy. It's about a boy who is so shy he is kind of phobic of girls, and a wannabe journalist called Penny who tries to "fix" him. It unsurprisingly goes horribly wrong.

2. I'm also starting to think about a sequel to A Pocketful of Eyes.

3. Plus I'm doing my PhD at the moment, so the future me will be Dr Lili Wilkinson. In three years.

4. Part of the PhD is a thesis about how teenagers + YA literature + internet + politics = awesome. Basically I'm looking into how YA literature and online fandom is providing teenagers with opportunities to become politically and civically engaged.

5. The other part of the PhD is a novel called The Wild Kindness, about a bunch of kids who blow off a Junior United Nations Summit and go on a wild road trip across America.

6. I'm also hoping that the future will contain as much chocolate, cheese, wine, great books, friends, family, loved ones and great TV shows as the present does.