I love Aussie YA. I love reading books from authors that live in the same country as me, that know things that people out of Australia might be so confused about. I love how sometimes they can incorporate this into their book and it is fabulous.  

So I decided to created a feature where I interview Australian Young Adult authors about their craft, journey and some interesting facts. I thought it was a fun way of everyone around the world to get to know these authors and maybe make them want to pick up their books. And that is what I am aiming to do, spread the word about #LoveOZYA and get everyone reading it. 

You can check out my previous interviews with authors like Jay Kristoff, Gabrielle Tozer, Sarah Ayoub,  Jessica Shirvington, and last week Helen Chebatte at Angel Reads. 

This week we have Nansi Kunze author of Mishaps (2008, Random House), Dangerously Placed (2011, Random House) and Kill the Music (2013, Random House) 

Hi Nansi, welcome to Angel Reads. First can you introduce yourself to everyone? Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Hi everyone! My name’s Nansi and I am a Weirdo.

Hi, Nansi. *all the other Weirdos wave politely*

Uh … sorry, can we start that again? I just had this sudden feeling I was at a Weirdoholics Anonymous meeting. No, that’s not a real thing. Why? Have you heard of them? ‘Cos I’d be quite inter–

Ahem.

I’m Nansi Kunze. I’m the author of three YA mystery novels: Mishaps, Dangerously Placed and Kill the Music. Before they were published, I taught things like foreign languages, computing skills and ESL to kids and adults.

What has your writing journey been like? When did you start? Why?

Unlike most authors I know, I didn’t always want to be a writer. When I was 25, my husband and I moved to Gippsland (south-eastern Victoria), and I was inspired by its beautiful green landscape to try writing a historical novel for adults. My novel sucked, but once I’d had a taste of what it was like to create my own world and my own characters I was addicted. 

To justify the time I was spending on writing by making it a paying job, I started writing short stories. I had a couple published in magazines, but no major sense of progress. It wasn’t until I wrote my first story for a younger audience, which won the FAW Mary Grant Bruce Award back in 2002, that I realised it was no good trying to pretend I could think – or write – like a grownup. I began working on my first YA manuscript, and have never looked back.

I use being a writer as an excuse to create slightly odd clothes from second-hand stuff and then wear them to author talks and festivals. So far, the most fun I’ve had doing that was at a local potato festival, where I wore an 18th-century ballgown I made out of used potato sacks.

What was the process of getting your first book published?

I had a manuscript assessment agency look at my first YA novel and revised it as they suggested, then sent it out to a few publishers. It was rejected by all of them, but the lovely Zoe Walton at Random House Australia let me know that she’d enjoyed it and would like to see more of my work. So I wrote my next novel as quickly as possible, polished it as much as I could (with the help of some awesome beta-readers) and sent it straight out to her. That manuscript became my first published book, Mishaps.

Was it different when getting your subsequent books published?

Yeah, it was. Zoe and the team at Random House had made it clear that they were interested in seeing more manuscripts from me, but that there was no pressure to produce them instantly. My son was only two months old when Mishaps was accepted for publication, so not having a deadline for another book was a huge relief for me! Being able to submit my subsequent novels directly to an editor and talk over things like plot changes and lengths felt like a real privilege, though. I think I learned a huge amount from that more in-house process.

You are an OZYA author, what are some of your favourite Aussie YA books?

I’m a big fan of Ellie Marney’s Every series, Marianne dePierres’s Night Creatures series and Michael Pryor’s Laws of Magic books. I really loved my friend Kate Gordon’s latest book Writing Clementine, which recently won the Ena Noel Award. And I’m always blown away by the emotive power of Jackie French’s books – I’ve just read Refuge and can’t recommend it highly enough.

I have yet to read Nansi’s books, but I plan to get on it. You can find Nansi on twitter at @NansiKunze, her website and don’t forget to add her books to your goodreads 

Mishaps by Nansi Kunze

Pages: 292
Publish date: February 1st 2008
Publisher: Random House Children’s
ISBN: 1741662753
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU – Dymocks 

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Thank you Nansi for joining me at Angel Reads and sharing your journey. Have you read any of Nansi’s books? Did you like them? Are you going to read them? Let’s Chat! 

Come back next week for some more Aussie fun. If you want to know more about the #LoveOZYA movement check out the website for all the details.