Craig Silvey has a knack for telling Australian stories. His second novel, Jasper Jones, was a runaway success that sold over 400,000 copies and became one of the defining local reads of the decade. In 2020, the Fremantle-born writer followed up with the tender-hearted Honeybee. Now, Silvey is back with an “all ages” book, Runt, illustrated by Sara Acton. It tells a classic Australiana story of country girl Annie Shearer and the adopted stray dog who becomes her best friend.
But before he found fame as a writer, Silvey was a self-taught musician who played “unforgivably awful” songs on an electric ukulele. Here, he reminisces about his time wielding that one-of-a-kind instrument, and shares the story of two other prized personal belongings.
