If our animals could speak

“When I get an idea, it comes to me as a still image,” says Dr Laura Jean McKay, winner of the 2021 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for her debut novel ‘The Animals In That Country.’

Dr McKay is now a lecturer in creative writing at Massey University in New Zealand, after completing her PhD at the University of Melbourne focusing on literary animal studies.

“This novel took seven years to write, but that image is very, very clear and stays very, very true the whole way and it really keeps me going through the whole writing process,” she says.

Dr McKay says her initial inspiration was, what would happen if we could finally understand what other animals were saying?

“Not with their mouths but really saying with their bodies and the way they are in the world, what are they saying to us and what are they saying to each other?” she adds.

Her novel is an eerily-timed tale about a world in the throes of a pandemic, exploring other consciousnesses, and the limits of language.

“It’s been a very, very strange time to launch this book into that world. On the one hand, it’s been really interesting to see what aspects of the novel are similar, but on the other hand, it’s really heartbreaking to see people suffering throughout the world.”

On the process of writing, Dr McKay says it can be a very lonely activity.

“When you’re doing it, you need to be alone. There can be a sense of isolation in creating a new work and something you really believe in but that nobody else really cares about until you publish it and hopefully it’s read,” she says.

“I think the really surprising thing is the incredible connection that you can have with other people who read your work or who write work that really inspires you.”

The Animals In That Country by Laura Jean McKay is published by Scribe.

Episode recorded: February 16, 2021.

Interviewer: Dr Andi Horvath.

Producer, audio engineer and editor: Chris Hatzis.

Co-producers: Silvi Vann-Wall and Dr Andi Horvath.

Banner: Getty Images