The award-winning Cowes author on the intensity of the teenage years, making connections and her vision for a very different Phillip Island.
Why young adult fiction?
I think our teenage years are ones of real intensity. They are a time of transition, of exploration and of hope. I think they are a period when the world presents itself as full of possibility. I like writing for an audience in this phase and I like working with characters who are experiencing this period of their life.
What books made most impression on you as a young adult reader?
The single book that made the greatest impression on me as a young adult reader was The Snow Goose (and I’ve returned to this book again and again as an adult). I find the sad, beautiful story of the deformed, ostracised man and the snow goose he and a young girl rehabilitate really compelling and moving. I love the unlikely connections, particularly between animals and people that it exposes as well that it shows that beauty can be present in the most usually overlooked of places.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Footscray which, at the time, was traffic, asphalt footpaths, some light industry and mostly a monoculture as far as the human population went. It certainly wasn’t the more interesting multi-cultural and creative place it is today. It was a bit bleak really.
What brought you to Phillip Island?
My husband Bruno loves water and says that because he’s a Piscean he needs to live near the ocean. I wanted more time to write (as teaching was taking up a lot of my energy in Melbourne) and Phillip Island seemed like a good place for that – peaceful and surrounded by nature and wildlife. My motivation, then, was probably quite selfish but when I got here, I realised how much I owed the environment I’d entered and that it was wrong of me to think I could just land here and fulfil my own needs without getting involved and giving back.
Were you environmentally aware as a child/young adult?
I always loved animals but living in the city I didn’t really see or appreciate the connection between animals and plants in a natural environment. It was only when I moved to Phillip Island that I began to experience plants and animals as an ecosystem or community (and see the destruction that is caused when a thread of that web is damaged).
How much is Nella (the lead character in For the Forest of a Bird) based on the young Sue Saliba?
Quite a bit. Her family situation – a father who leaves the family and a mother who has a mental illness – is the same as mine. Also, she is always yearning for things to be other than what they are. This is definitely what I spent a large part of my younger life doing.
Were your teenage years particularly painful?
I was very shy as a teenager. I really enjoyed the academic side of school and I loved playing sport but the social part of these things was so anxiety-arousing for me.
Is Isobel based on anyone you know on the island?
Isobel’s a bit of a composite figure really. She’s based on a number of inspiring women I’ve known and, yes, a couple of them live on Phillip Island – they are heavily involved in the local environmental movement.
You seem to be very conscious of Phillip Island pre-European past. Do you have a vision of what the island could be?
My vision is that all the farmland is eventually bought up and re-vegetated with indigenous flora so that it serves as habitat for native birds and other animals. I’d also love to see no more houses built on the island and current streetscapes and people’s gardens planted out with indigenous vegetation to encourage birds and small animals back. Of course, I’d also love to see all those awful paling fences removed so that birds and animals could move about more freely.
Most importantly, I’d like to see a shift in thinking so that residents and visitors see the island as the home of indigenous plants and animals which we are privileged to live amongst or visit. I’d like the common definition of community broadened to include all these living beings rather than just the human population it seems to currently refer to. I’d like people to understand, for example, that the beach is the habitat of many birds and other creatures, not just a place of leisure for humans to use as a swimming pool, jogging track or cricket pitch.
I have a vision of Phillip Island as a much richer and more enriching place for everyone than it currently is.
What next for you?
I’ll continue on with my various activities – working on re-vegetating a small piece of local land, helping with the Red Rocks Coast Care team, watching over the hooded plovers on various island beaches and fighting some of the many ridiculous and inappropriate developments that are proposed for the island. I’ll also keep working on my next novel, which I’ve begun – it involves beautiful Westernport and its amazing and precious wildlife but I’m not sure at this stage where the story will go.
Bibliography
Sue Saliba’s books are available at Turn the Page bookshop in Cowes. For more information, visit www.suesaliba.com.
I think our teenage years are ones of real intensity. They are a time of transition, of exploration and of hope. I think they are a period when the world presents itself as full of possibility. I like writing for an audience in this phase and I like working with characters who are experiencing this period of their life.
What books made most impression on you as a young adult reader?
The single book that made the greatest impression on me as a young adult reader was The Snow Goose (and I’ve returned to this book again and again as an adult). I find the sad, beautiful story of the deformed, ostracised man and the snow goose he and a young girl rehabilitate really compelling and moving. I love the unlikely connections, particularly between animals and people that it exposes as well that it shows that beauty can be present in the most usually overlooked of places.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Footscray which, at the time, was traffic, asphalt footpaths, some light industry and mostly a monoculture as far as the human population went. It certainly wasn’t the more interesting multi-cultural and creative place it is today. It was a bit bleak really.
What brought you to Phillip Island?
My husband Bruno loves water and says that because he’s a Piscean he needs to live near the ocean. I wanted more time to write (as teaching was taking up a lot of my energy in Melbourne) and Phillip Island seemed like a good place for that – peaceful and surrounded by nature and wildlife. My motivation, then, was probably quite selfish but when I got here, I realised how much I owed the environment I’d entered and that it was wrong of me to think I could just land here and fulfil my own needs without getting involved and giving back.
Were you environmentally aware as a child/young adult?
I always loved animals but living in the city I didn’t really see or appreciate the connection between animals and plants in a natural environment. It was only when I moved to Phillip Island that I began to experience plants and animals as an ecosystem or community (and see the destruction that is caused when a thread of that web is damaged).
How much is Nella (the lead character in For the Forest of a Bird) based on the young Sue Saliba?
Quite a bit. Her family situation – a father who leaves the family and a mother who has a mental illness – is the same as mine. Also, she is always yearning for things to be other than what they are. This is definitely what I spent a large part of my younger life doing.
Were your teenage years particularly painful?
I was very shy as a teenager. I really enjoyed the academic side of school and I loved playing sport but the social part of these things was so anxiety-arousing for me.
Is Isobel based on anyone you know on the island?
Isobel’s a bit of a composite figure really. She’s based on a number of inspiring women I’ve known and, yes, a couple of them live on Phillip Island – they are heavily involved in the local environmental movement.
You seem to be very conscious of Phillip Island pre-European past. Do you have a vision of what the island could be?
My vision is that all the farmland is eventually bought up and re-vegetated with indigenous flora so that it serves as habitat for native birds and other animals. I’d also love to see no more houses built on the island and current streetscapes and people’s gardens planted out with indigenous vegetation to encourage birds and small animals back. Of course, I’d also love to see all those awful paling fences removed so that birds and animals could move about more freely.
Most importantly, I’d like to see a shift in thinking so that residents and visitors see the island as the home of indigenous plants and animals which we are privileged to live amongst or visit. I’d like the common definition of community broadened to include all these living beings rather than just the human population it seems to currently refer to. I’d like people to understand, for example, that the beach is the habitat of many birds and other creatures, not just a place of leisure for humans to use as a swimming pool, jogging track or cricket pitch.
I have a vision of Phillip Island as a much richer and more enriching place for everyone than it currently is.
What next for you?
I’ll continue on with my various activities – working on re-vegetating a small piece of local land, helping with the Red Rocks Coast Care team, watching over the hooded plovers on various island beaches and fighting some of the many ridiculous and inappropriate developments that are proposed for the island. I’ll also keep working on my next novel, which I’ve begun – it involves beautiful Westernport and its amazing and precious wildlife but I’m not sure at this stage where the story will go.
Bibliography
- For the Forest of a Bird, Penguin, 2015
- Alaska, Penguin, 2011, shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for young adult fiction, 2012; Children’s Book Council of Australia Notable Book, 2012
- Something in the World Called Love, Penguin, 2008, won the Victorian Premier’s Award for young adult fiction, 2009
- The Skin of a Star, Addison Wesley Longman, 1998
- Watching Seagulls, Addison Wesley Longman, 1997, Children’s Book Council of Australia Notable Book, 1998
Sue Saliba’s books are available at Turn the Page bookshop in Cowes. For more information, visit www.suesaliba.com.
