Hi Trace, you’re a well-known graphic novelist. Can you tell us how your writing/illustrating journey began?
I always wrote journals, with a mix of words and pictures and as a kid, I knew I wanted to write a book that would be in the library. When that happened I was pretty chuffed.
When my son was little I started making books for him. By the time I met my publisher at Allen and Unwin, I had a pile of cobbled-together books, and they knew that it wasn’t a once-off for me but a career. I was already in my 40s then. My son is now 23 and is in Bendigo studying rural medicine.
What books and projects have you worked on?
My book Rivertime, set on the Glenelg River is about a ten-year-old boy and his uncle and it won the Readings Children’s Book Prize and a children’s literature Wilderness Society’s Environment Award.
At the start of COVID, I was in India making a book called Cycling Together, following the lives of two Indian girls, one who has access to clean, safe toilets at school while the other doesn’t, and how the lack of this basic necessity can affect girls education and their lives. All proceeds go to Operation Toilets, a charity my brother began to put toilets into schools.
My eighth book Leaf Light will be released this year. It’s a sister book to Landing with Wings which is about a young girl, who moves to the Goldfields area on Djaara country, with a lot of local characters in it. Oh, and I have a large mural on the side of the Hub on Barker Street.
I’ve also made a Dja Dja Wurrung language poster with Nalderun from the pictures at the front of Landing with Wings. People can buy the poster at the Vintage Bazaar and the Castlemaine Visitor Centre and all proceeds will go to Nalderun.
I also wrote a song for survival day, ‘May We All Stand Together’, which I sent to my friend Andrew McSweeney and he put to music and has had an incredible amount of views on my website. We’re hoping to sing it at next year’s Survival Day. I really think we allies have a place in cultural revival and repair.
What’s your favourite book that you’ve written?
It’s always the last one that I’ve done.
How did you come to live in Castlemaine?
I’ve lived here for 13 years but I’d been coming to the area for many years before moving.
I moved due to a series of circumstances – I wanted to live near Melbourne where my parents lived. I wanted to be on a train line as I normally travel by bike or train (I love looking out the window or drawing on the train). I wanted to live somewhere that had the possibility of good community connection and I wanted to live close to the bush.
What other interests do you have?
I dance a lot and swim and garden. I’m growing some corn at the moment that is almost ready to eat!
What are your favourite books?
Rewilding the Urban Soul by Claire Dunn, The Little Prince and Storm Boy. I was always transfixed by David Dhalatnghu Gulpilil.
What’s your favorite genre of music?
It depends so much on the mood I’m in, but I’ve created an open space in my house to dance in.
What philosophies do you live life by?
Reciprocity, feed the garden and it feeds you. The gift of forgiving. I really think it’s important to tread lightly on the earth, it’s impossible to live without any footprint, but I try to live lightly. It’s really important that if you have privilege, that you know it comes with responsibility.
Finally, what do you love most about the place you call home?
I’ve fallen in love with Djarra country, walking and riding Leanganook, Tarrangower, Lalgambook.
I’m a dawn walker; I love getting into the hills, especially during winter, with the frost and fog. I love getting about the fog line and seeing the golden light come through. I call it the goldfields because of the golden light, the golden wattle, and the golden whistler.