Meg McKinlay
As a child
Meg grew up in the goldmining town of Bendigo, in country Victoria, Australia. Her early years were spent running wild through mullock heaps and striking it rich at least once a week on a vein of fool’s gold. She grew up in a book-ish family, and was one of those annoying kids who loved school. If there were books of any kind, and there always were, she was happy. As well as stories, she read lots of poetry and developed a love for the rhythms of language.
As an adult
When Meg graduated from high school she was about to go off and study Law when it suddenly occurred to her that just because you can doesn’t mean you should, and that what she really wanted to do was read and write. The only question was how to turn that into a career! She managed to indulge herself through an Arts degree, then a doctorate in Japanese Literature, before deciding her options were either teaching or writing.She was fortunate enough to find a balance of both, and taught Australian Literature, Japanese, and Creative Writing for many years at the University of Western Australia. She is always striving to squeeze more writing time into the cracks of her other lives. Meg has finally learned to recognize fool’s gold, and now lives with her family near the ocean in Fremantle, Western Australia.
As an artist
Meg wrote stories as a child but was told they were either lacking in focus, or most likely stolen from someone else. This was somewhat discouraging. When she started writing as an adult, she was told her stories were actually quite good. This was a little more encouraging. Still, it took her several years, and several stories, before her first novel, Annabel, Again, was accepted by a publisher. Several more books have followed, and these days, Meg writes everything from poetry and picture books through to novels for young adults. “I am always trying to be more structured in the way I work,” she says, “but still tend to set out with little more than an interesting character or a curious first line and just see where the story takes me. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but it is always an enjoyable journey!” Meg loves writing for children and says she finds it “disturbingly easy to slip into the skin of her childhood self”. The Russian writer Dostoevsky once said that the best education for a writer is a single, glowing memory of childhood. Meg considers herself fortunate to have a marvellous storehouse of these and when all else fails, she simply ransacks the memories of her brothers and sister for inspiration. What else are siblings for?
Things you didn't know about Meg McKinlay
- My name is actually Megan (pronounced "Meggan") but I have to call myself Meg to stop people calling me Meegan, even "friends" I have known for many years. Recently, someone called me "Meeg". I didn’t know what to say.
- I was a chronic stutterer as a child and still confront hard consonants with some degree of fear.
- I was once on a Japanese cheerleading team (note for foreign-language learners: it is not a good idea to enthusiastically agree to suggestions you have not understood).
- I have been sky-diving and bungy jumping, but I hate climbing ladders. It’s all about perspective – the less you have, the better!
- I swam competitively when I was young, and although I’ve slowed down a lot, swimming is still one of my favourite things.
- I do a somersault every year on my birthday, just to prove I still can.
- I have been known to put fluff back down onto the floor to give the vacuum cleaner one more chance.
- I used to hate avocados but now they are one of my favourite foods.
- I am passionate about the placement of commas.
- The Japanese characters I use to write my name mean “bright face”.