Queentide follows a woman in a future dystopian Australia who creates a radical feminist group to return women’s right to vote. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?

The world in Queentide isn’t so different from the one we live in today. Women are underrepresented in positions of power, they’re the victims of more domestic violence, they still face more discrimination at work, and when they try to challenge the status quo, by speaking out or running for office they are beaten back by a system not designed to support them and widespread trolling.

I wondered what it would take to change this, and I decided it would be the army of women Gloria Steinem talked about.

Bodie is an intriguing and well developed character. What were some driving ideals behind her character’s development?

Bodie’s character is based on some women I’ve met who were part of the feminist moment back in the 1960s. They’re realists – they’ve been fighting for women’s rights for 60 years so they know change is hard! But they are still trying, they still think its possible. It was this fierce optimism I wanted to capture in Bodie’s character.

But ultimately, the biggest driver for Bodie is love. She thinks love will change the world. And it does, but perhaps not in the way she expects!

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

A really important theme for me to explore was the silencing of women, and the myriad of ways that is done – in relationships, on social media, in the news, in politics, in the courts, even sometimes by themselves. Queentide was my way of giving these women’s voices an outlet, and to highlight the inequities that still exist for women.

It was also really important for me to look at the issue of intersectionality, or the lack of it, in the feminist movement. When I imagined a feminist revolution, one that worked, it couldn’t just be lead by straight white feminists-people like me. And being set in Australia, It was important to reflect on the experience of First Nations women and men. Writing Queentide, I did a lot of listening, learning and privilege-checking. That experience has changed how I see the world, my blinkers are definitely off.

What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?

The next book is called There She Goes – it’s about a woman rapidly approaching middle age who revisits her youth in a desperate attempt to reroute her future. It will hopefully be on shelves by the end of the year.

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