Q&A with True Story festival author Vicki Hastrich
On November 15, Vicki Hastrich, author of The Last Days of Zane Grey, will appear in converation with fellow biographer Anthony Sharwood and Caroline Baum at True Story Festival
Vicki Hastrich’s newest biography is The Last Days of Zane Grey, which examines the life of American western writer, celebrity and deep-sea fisherman Zane Grey, revealing the untold story of his two trips to Australia in the 1930s.
On Saturday, November 15, Vicki will sit down with fellow biographer Anthony Sharwood, author of Kosciuszko, and Caroline Baum at True Story Festival in Coledale in a panel discussion titled ‘From Ocean to Mountain’. Tickets via Humanitix.
In this Q&A, Vicki shares some of the books that shaped her writing today.
What is your earliest reading memory?
The green-and-blue striped cloth library bag banging on my legs as I walked home from school in Year 2 with my older brother, the stiff corner of the picture book inside digging into my calf. And the book I most remember from that time? The Three Robbers by Tomi Ungerer – so mysterious – the black clad shapes of the robbers silhouetted against purple night skies.
Which book made you want to be a writer?
The Book of Ebenezer Le Page by G.B. Edwards. It was so idiosyncratic and the voice so beguiling that it made writing seem possible – something worthwhile could come out of the core of self if it was genuine.
Which book do you re-read?
To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf. Favourite of many, but just so damned good, there’s always more to learn. I’m gobsmacked every time by the audacity of the middle section. It’s a masterstroke, as sudden and confusing and desolating as real death. Has there ever been a more striking use of parenthesis?
What is a book you discovered later in life?
Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar. Brilliant, especially the first chapter where, on every page of my copy, I’ve squiggled pencil marks noting things I admire.
What are you currently reading?
I’m interested in cities at the moment, the layers of them and what gets embedded in them over time, so of course I had to pick up Ghost Cities by Siang Lou and I’m loving it. Inventive, funny, smart.
From Ocean to Mountain
Book your ticket: Saturday, November 15, 4-5pm
Two of the best new Australian biographers talk about how they bring to life remarkable lives that deserve another look. Vicki Hastrich celebrates deep sea fishing champion and millionaire author Zane Grey, who spent time fishing for marlin on the South Coast of NSW, while Anthony Sharwood travels in the footsteps of his hero, Enlightenment freedom fighter Tadeusz Kosciuszko – from Poland to France, from the US to our own high country – to ask how his name got given to our tallest peak. They are in conversation with Caroline Baum, host of Life Sentences, a podcast about contemporary biography.
