We are proud and excited to announce Emma Darragh as this year's winner of The Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction, for her unflinching, tender and darkly funny debut novel Thanks for Having Me, which explores what we give to our families and what we take from them – whether we mean to or not.

We've asked Emma about the inspiration for her work, the creative process, her perfect reader, favourite writing advice and what she hopes readers take away from her book and more.

What was the initial inspiration for this story?

Thanks for Having Me began as a series of six stories about one of the characters – Vivian – at various points in her life: as a young girl, a teenager, a new parent, and as the mother of a teenage daughter. After reading Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge and Margaret Atwood’s Moral Disorder, I felt inspired to experiment with form, with different styles of narration and focalisation, to create a non-linear, mosaic-style portrait of a character who was trying to make sense of herself at various moments in her life. The initial Vivian series was called ‘What We Might Become’ and explored ideas of how we grow into ourselves, how we perceive ourselves, and how slippery the idea of a self truly is – and it was particularly focused on how femininity and family shaped these notions of the self. The stories were also inspired by an artistic curiosity: I wanted to see how different narrative strategies could amplify these themes. Then, when Catherine McKinnon read these stories and examined my Honours project, she commented that for a project that was interested in mother characters, Vivian’s own mother was mostly absent. I took this as a provocation to expand the family and explore the lives of Mary Anne, Vivian’s mother, and Evie, her daughter. 

Can you tell us about the creative process?

I consider myself a bit of a formalist – I’m interested in the ways we tell stories, not just what happens to the characters. So, the creative process was informed by a lot of theoretical research. While writing Thanks for Having Me (which was part of my PhD), I wrote a dissertation about short story cycles, focusing on how the short story cycle form can be used to explore 21st century lives and concerns. I analysed Joshua Lobb’s The Flight of Birds and Elizabeth Tan’s Rubik and learned a lot about deliberately creating resonance and dissonance between the individual stories, and about fragmentation and what can be left off the page. 

In terms of sitting down at the desk to actually write, it took me a while to get to know these characters. I wrote diaries for each of the main characters and made scrapbooks for them. I scrolled through microfiche for newspaper articles from relevant local papers in the 1960s. I watched 1990s toy commercials on YouTube and read cookbooks from the 1980s. And then I sat down at the desk and ran experiments. I’d let the characters start talking on the page. I wrote in many bits and pieces and they finally all started coming together. I’m a big fan of index cards and laying everything out on the floor.

(The other important thing to note is that I had two incredible supervisors and some wonderful writer friends frequently giving me feedback and asking productive questions throughout the process.)

Who is the ideal reader for your book and what do you hope readers take away from it?

I read an online review of the book that said it was 'one for the girls!' and I’ve received many lovely messages and read numerous reviews from women who tell me they feel seen by the stories in my book. However, I’ve also heard from a few male readers who’ve told me the book shed light on their own family dynamics and adolescent experiences.

I don’t write for a particular kind of reader when I start writing – I just write the kind of story I want to read. Having said that, while my book focuses on the lives of female characters and interrogates the social forces that shape them into women, from time to time I found myself thinking of my partner (a man) as I was writing. He is a great reader, and we both enjoy gritty American books like Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock and Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson. However, I know he, like many men, predominantly reads male authors. I figured that girls and women might easily relate to these characters, so I wanted to push myself to write about the feminine experience in a way that rendered it as a human experience – dirty, gritty, uncomfortable, compelling, and relatable – even for those who don’t identify as women.

I hope readers come away with a new appreciation for the short story cycle, embracing the form whether we call it a short story cycle, a novel in stories, or a non-linear or discontinuous narrative. There are so many ways to live and so many ways to tell stories.

What is the best writing advice you’ve ever received?

One piece of advice I keep coming back to can be found in Anne Lamott’s book Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Lamott has a chapter called ‘Shitty First Drafts’ and says, 'All good writers write them. This is how they end up with good second drafts and terrific third drafts . . . the only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts.' For me, this means taking the pressure off and giving myself permission to play on the page – and that’s when the magic happens.

What was your pathway to being published like?

I feel like it’s been a lifetime in the making, that in a way I’ve always been writing these stories. I started writing the actual book while studying Honours in Creative Writing and finished it as the creative component of my PhD, so it took me about 5 years to get it on the page. I had very generous, talented mentors and supervisors through the writing process. And I feel very lucky to have had a smooth journey to publication. A friend introduced me to my agent who then signed me up with Nakkiah Lui’s imprint Joan at Allen & Unwin. From my supervisors through to my agent and publishers – I couldn’t ask for a better, more supportive team who get me and believe in my work.

What does being chosen for a prize judged by booksellers mean to you?

I worked as a bookseller for six years before I began my PhD, and it was the best job I’ve ever had. Booksellers are like matchmakers, bringing people and books together, introducing readers to books they might never have noticed before. Getting the right book at the right time can be lifechanging.

For my book to be one that booksellers want to put in the hands of readers is such an honour. I am so grateful – thank you!

Discover the other category winners of the 2024 Readings Prizes here.