We sat down for a chat......with Glenda Millard

Glenda Millard is the author of Australian novel The Stars at Oktober Bend, published in the UK by Old Barn Books. As part of our Carnegie 2017 theme, we asked her a few questions:

Australian Author Glenda Millard

WSD: You say you like going down roads you've never been before (on

your web bio). Did any of these lead you to Oktober Bend?

Glenda Millard: My physical meanderings are motivated by a number of things - curiosity being high on the list. But writing a story is also a journey. Planning isn’t one of my strengths, so taking the initial step, writing the first sentence, not knowing how I’m going to get from there to the end, who I’ll meet along the way, how I’ll discover what’s shaped them and the joys and sorrows we’ll face together before we arrive at journey’s end are to a large extent unformed. So in that sense, I did go down a road I’d never been before and it did lead me to Oktober Bend. But then again, Oktober Bend has always been a place inside me, partly real, partly imagined and so are the people I met along the way.

WSD:  If you were placing unread poems that you hoped would be read,

where would you put them?

GM: On the backs of bus seats, or bathroom doors at doctor’s rooms, in magazine racks at hairdressing salons. Places where people stop and sit for a while - where they have time to think and where I would have a captive audience.

WSD:  Why a 'k' in Oktober?

GM: I remember reading an article about a wonderful artist and illustrator of children’s books whose name is Tricia Oktober. I love Tricia’s paintings, I love that she loves animals and gardens and I loved the look of her surname; the ups-and-downs of it - the surprising spiky bits, the beaky obliques and the smooth round humps and hillocks. Yes.....there is much to appreciate about words, including their music, their meaning and their visual delights.

The Stars at Oktober Bend - Glenda Millard

WSD: A top tip for budding writers?

GM: Read. Read A LOT - and learn to appreciate the writing, not simply the story.

WSD: Cats or dogs person?

GM: Dogs - always, utterly and absolutely.

*****

You can read our review of The Stars at Oktober Bend here.