My most memorable involvement with the Melbourne Fringe was my participation, in 2001, in Spencer Tunick’s nude photograph shoot of 4000 Melbournians on Princes Bridge.  It’s an experience that could well find its way into my fiction.

What made you interested in the Arts and how did you begin your career? Can you tell us a bit about your current role?

Like many writers, I loved reading as a child, and equally typically I was always better at writing than at other pursuits, so in some ways you could say that writing chose me.  I began my first novel at the age of 11, and while that particular project didn’t get very far I’ve been writing fiction of one kind or another ever since.  For a fuller description of my career to date, including information about my novel The Zookeeper’s War, you can visit my website at www.stevenconte.com/. 

What role (if any) did education play in helping you work in the arts? 

My undergraduate degree was in Professional Writing (at the University of Canberra), and during my PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Melbourne, where I wrote most of The Zookeeper’s War, I was lucky enough to receive a postgraduate scholarship.   In the last two decades, universities have increasingly provided the kind of support and patronage for emerging writers which in the 1970s and early ‘80s and was provided by government, and so the mercenary explanation for my university career is that I’ve been following the money.  Of course, along the way I’ve learned a bit about thinking, and I’ve also enjoyed the friendship and support of other writers.

Can you tell us about an arts project or moment that you’re most proud of and why?

At the launch of The Zookeeper’s War in 2007 at the Melbourne Writers’ Festival, a scuffle broke out at the door of the Malthouse Theatre’s Bagging Room when bouncers tried to turn people away due to fears that the timber floor might collapse.  Since then, the novel has been shortlisted for the 2008 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for first novels, and for the 2008 inaugural Prime Minister’s Literary Award for fiction.  In November 2008 the novel will be published in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

What advice would you give to people wanting to be involved in the arts in Melbourne?

Apart from an adequate level of talent, the key to getting anywhere in writing is persistence, and I’d guess that this is equally true in other fields of the arts.  Fifteen years elapsed between my first serious attempt at a novel and eventual publication.  Along the way, I submitted my work for various grants and mentorships, and in addition to some harsh rejections I had successes that led to further opportunities, so it’s important to keep fearlessly putting your work into the world.  There are many people with sufficient talent to be writers, but I suspect that you need some kind of kink of personality to press on with an endeavour that – from a financial perspective, at least – is almost certainly irrational.