Kim Scott grew up on the south coast of Western Australia. As a descendant of those who first created human society along that edge of ocean, he is proud to be one among those who call themselves Noongar.
Kim’s second novel Benang: From the Heart won the 1999 Western Australian Premier’s Book Award, the 2000 Miles Franklin Literary Award and the 2001 Kate Challis RAKA Award. His third novel, That Deadman Dance, also won the Miles Franklin Literary Award in 2011, the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and the Western Australian Premier’s Book Award. His latest book, published in 2017 is Taboo.
Kim lives in Fremantle, Western Australia, and is currently Professor of Writing at the School of Media, Culture and Creative Arts, Curtin University.
In this interview Kim and Katherine discuss:
- Early writing and reading life
- Entering the City of Freemantle Hungerford award (just like previous The First Time podcast interviewee Natasha Lester) and his first experience of publication
- Who he is writing for and what the point is
- Collaborating with Hazel Brown on Kayang and Me
- The Wirlomin Noongar Language and Stories Project and what the process of rebuilding language and culture looks like
- How his lived experience experience appears in his work
- The decision not to include non-inclusion of Noongar language in his book Taboo
- This quote from John Fielder:
[Kim Scott) ‘is an important figure in Australia today because of his creative quest to open up new and different ways of ‘being black’, and to provide a language for that which is otherwise un-utterable.’
Kim Scott’s debut book recommendation is The Bone People by Keri Hulme.
ID: A man with short dark hair, wearing a blue shirt is looking towards the camera. He has a serious expression but also a small smile on his face.
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