Q&A with Danielle Binks

Danielle Binks is a writer, literary agent, and lecturer in Creative Writing who lives on the Mornington Peninsula, and we picked her brain about her new novel Six Summers of Tash and Leopold and kids' lit as a whole!

What do you hope young readers take away from Six Summers of Tash and Leopold?

DB: A little more empathy, that's always my great wish for reader take-away with my books. But in this case, the ability to recognise that you cannot know simply by looking at someone, what's going on in their life or how much they're struggling. My young characters in this book have tumultuous home-lives, parents who are on their own tough journeys, complex medical histories, adults in their orbit carrying grief, social-anxieties - all of this sometimes buried deep down or deliberately well hidden, and I hope it makes young readers stop and wonder if they can be more understanding or empathetic to people whose lives they can only view from the outside - be that friends, family, adults, neighbours, anyone. The world could always do with more empathy. 

Why do you think it’s important for kids to read books with issues and adventures they can relate to?

DB: I think the really simple reason is; so that they feel less alone. It's why I will always champion putting Aussie stories on the page, for kids. So they can see their lives and circumstances reflected, that even something as simple as seeing a location they know or recognise - like Noble Park in this book - or discussions of indigenous weather knowledge, they know that their stories are worth telling and that what's affecting them matters enough to commit it to the pages of a book. I want them to know that their circumstances may be unique, but also universal - that in my book just as in their life, there are young characters who are seeing their suburb change and feeling anxious about whether or not their family will be kicked out of their rental property, that they also have parents who struggle with mental health and addiction, or fellow kids who are also experiencing intense anxiety manifesting in inability to get to school - school refusal. If they can see it, maybe they'll feel less alone - or more empathetic to some aspect that they recognise in a friend's life, or a relative's, or a classmate's. 

What’s special for you about writing for young people, and being part of the Australian KidsLit community?

DB: Oh gosh, everything. I am very privileged indeed, to work with young people and write for them - to also try and centre their concerns, hopes and dreams in my stories ... I don't know that Australian society (or any society, really) is *amaizng* at giving kid's agency and space for stuff that matters to them and is for them - KidLit is one of the rare places where we celebrate what it is to be a kid, and to also take seriously what their fears and worries are. It feels a bit revolutionary to declare that they are our Number 1. priority - entertaining and listening to them, and I see all of us in the Australian KidsLit community trying to do that constantly, and you can just feel how many of us have a deep respect for this craft and its incredible audience.  

Is there a book that was especially meaningful for you growing up?

DB: I mean, everything by Melina Marchetta - Looking for Alibrandi really did feel like she had come along, unscrewed the top of my head, took a little peek around, and then transcribed what she saw. Talking about not feeling so alone; I felt like all of Melina's characters were my friends, and then ironically I've made very deep and valuable friendships in publishing precisely because I've bonded with so many people over our mutual love and appreciation for Melina Marchetta and growing up with her stories. She's the author who has grown with me, and who definitely imprinted on my heart in the best ways. I often think if anyone can take from my stories what Melina Marchetta gave to me as a young reader, then I'll be all the richer for it as a creator.