Writers Read: Evie Wyld

Friday, May 2, 2014

Evie Wyld

Evie Wyld grew up in Australia and London, where she currently resides. She has won the John Llewellyn-Rhys prize and a Betty Trask Award, and she has been short-listed for

the Orange Award for New Writers, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Commonwealth Writers Prize, and the Costa Novel Award.

Her latest novel, All the Birds, Singing, is now available in the US.

Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Wyld's reply:

I’ve been reading 1950s cookery books a little bit over the last couple of months - mainly they’re Good Housekeeping editions - I’ve become sort of fascinated by things in aspic. They’ve always interested me, but I didn’t know about the sheer variety of horrible things you could make.

I also just finished The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan, which was one of the most exciting, beautiful books I’ve read in recent history. It gives every character the space that they need, it doesn’t skate over a single thing. It’s a tough read - the subject is the Thai-Burma Death Railway and the POWs who built it, but it reminded me what art is possible in writing.

I’m dipping in and out of Harry’s Last Stand by Harry Leslie Smith. It’s non-fiction, written by a 90 year old man, and the voice is tremendous. He’s lived through some fascinating times and there’s something great about hearing his voice, which acknowledges his place in the world - something that the voices of elderly people rarely find. It’s brilliant.