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In Conversation with BlackWords

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  • John Maynard In Conversation with BlackWords

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    In the ninth of this series of interviews, Anita speaks to John Maynard.

    Professor John Maynard is an academic and historian who grew up in the world of horse racing, hanging out with his jockey father Merv Maynard, which inspired his first book, Aboriginal Stars of the Turf: Jockeys of Australian Racing History (2002). John is currently an Australian Research Fellow at The Wollotuka Institute at the University of Newcastle.

  • Who’s your mob? Where did you grow up?

    Worimi, and I grew up in Newcastle.

  • What was your favourite book growing up?

    Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.

  • What book or books had an impact on your life and why?

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    Aborigines and the 'Sport of Kings' : Indigenous Jockeys in Australian Racing History by John Maynard

    The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Custer Died For Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto by Vine Deloria, and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West by Dee Alexander Brown. I read these books in my teens and I still have the dog-eared copies of these books that I continue to draw reference from.

  • What's the most recent book you’ve read?

    Phillip Meyer’s The Son and Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard.

  • Is there a book you just couldn’t finish?

    Moby Dick by Herman Melville.

  • What book have you read more than once?

    Quite a few actually, but One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey.

  • What book do you think every Australian should read?

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    Fight for Liberty and Freedom by John Maynard

    Fight for Liberty and Freedom!! By me.

  • Of all art forms, why literature?

    It just came naturally. I loved writing from the get go!

  • How did you start writing?

    Seems like I was born with a pen in my hand. As a kid I used to write my own newspapers and sell them around the street with all the local news.

  • Did you do anything to help you learn to write or did it just come naturally?

    Just natural.

  • What do you love about writing?

    I am a born storyteller. I just love telling stories. My grandmother used to say, 'John Maynard, stop telling stories!'

  • What’s your aim as a writer?

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    The Aboriginal Soccer Tribe: A History of Aboriginal Involvement with the World Game by John Maynard

    As a historian, to play a role in putting the pieces back into the giant fragmented jigsaw puzzle that is Australian Aboriginal history.

  • Who do you write for?

    Unquestionably first and foremost the Aboriginal community. I want my material to be read, enjoyed, and to provide inspiration for our future generations.

  • Who are some of your favourite authors?

    My favourite author is Ernest Hemingway. Unfashionable today but it is his short sharp sentences and descriptions of place and country, particularly in his short stories, that I am inspired by.

  • Do you have a writing role model or inspiration?

    As Above

  • What’s your writing process?

    I am a manic writer. I dump things down rapidly. Like a sculptor starting with a large slab of clay - then I peel it back and back until I have a finished piece. There are many drafts. I write very quickly. My last book (The Aboriginal Soccer Tribe) I wrote in six weeks! 60,000 words all in six weeks and it was a highly recommended finalist for the Walkley Awards.

  • Is it difficult to move between genres?

    I don’t move between genres - I only write history.

  • What’s the best tip you were ever given in relation to writing?

    'I was trying to learn to write, commencing with the simplest things …' [from] Death in the Afternoon by Ernest Hemingway.

  • Do you have any advice you could offer on writing and publishing?

    Just to start writing.

  • What are you working on right now?

    A revised edition of my book on Aboriginal jockeys that will be out in November. A book on the artwork of convict artist Joseph Lycett from an Aboriginal perspective for the National Library, and also a book Living with the Locals (also for the National Library) which examines the historical stories of white people who lived with Aboriginal people, and the impact that had on their lives, for example, runaway convicts, shipwreck survivors and people just lost.

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