Conversations from Byron
The Burning Island: Jock Serong in conversation with Chris Hanley
In this Conversations from Byron podcast, Jock Serong speaks with Chris Hanley about his new book The Burning Island. They discuss creating in the time of Covid-19, while Jock walks us through some of his researching and writing habits. Delving into the book itself, Jock explains where the idea for the story originated and its relationship to his previous novel Preservation. They go on to discuss some of the numerous themes present in the novel, from seafaring to parent-child relationships and problems of addiction.
About the book
Eliza Grayling, born in Sydney when the colony itself was still an infant, has lived there all her thirty-two years. Too tall, too stern—too old, now—for marriage, she looks out for her reclusive father, Joshua, and wonders about his past. There is a shadow there: an old enmity.
When Joshua Grayling is offered the chance for a reckoning with his nemesis, Eliza is horrified. It involves a sea voyage with an uncertain, probably violent, outcome. Insanity for an elderly blind man, let alone a drunkard.
Unable to dissuade her father from his mad fixation, Eliza begins to understand she may be forced to go with him. Then she sees the vessel they will be sailing on. And in that instant, the voyage of the Moonbird becomes Eliza’s mission too.
Irresistible prose, unforgettable characters and magnificent, epic storytelling: The Burning Island delivers everything readers have come to expect from Jock Serong. It may be his most moving, compelling novel yet.
Thanks to Delta Kay, Arakwal Bundjalung woman, for the Welcome to Country on this podcast.
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About the authors
Jock Serong
Jock Serong was once a criminal lawyer. He’s since been the editor of Great Ocean Quarterly, and a regular writer in the surfing media and more generally in publications such as The Monthly, The Guardian, the SMH and the Australian Financial Review. His first novel, Quota, appeared in 2014, and since then his work has been awarded the Colin Roderick Prize, the Staunch Prize and an ACWA Ned Kelly. His current book, The Burning Island, is the second novel of a trilogy about the early history of Bass Strait’s Furneaux Islands. He’s in the late stages of a Creative Writing PhD based around his first historical novel, Preservation. More than anything, he likes to write about the sea.
Chris Hanley
Chris Hanley OAM is the founder of Byron Writers festival and was Chair for 20 years until 2016. He is the Principle of Byron Bay First National.
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Thank you to our funding partners for making this program possible.
Mirandi Riwoe
Melanie Cheng
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Professor Marcia Langton AM PhD Macq U, BA (Hons) ANU, FASSA is one of Australia’s most important voices for Indigenous Australia. She first became an Indigenous rights activist as a student at the University of Queensland, before spending time in Papua New Guinea, Japan and North America learning about those countries’ peoples and cultures. On her return to Australia, Langton graduated in Anthropology at ANU. Since then, she has worked with the Central Land Council, the Cape York Land Council, and for the 1989 Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody.
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