Cancer crusader set for Writers Fest

AWARD-winning Aussie actor Samuel Johnson will be at the Bendigo Writers Festival and several stalls to promote his latest book Dear Mum in time for Mothers’ Day.

The writer and philanthropist has written a series of books while raising millions of dollars for cancer research through his charity Love Your Sister.

The charity was launched in 2012 with Johnson’s sister Connie, who lost her battle with cancer in 2017.

Johnson said women and mums comprise 80 per cent of the charity and the response to the book has been fantastic.

“The book is number seven in retail and number four online so I’m in the middle of all my wildest dreams coming true,” he said.

“My sister was a mum who fought and lost against breast cancer and as a result we’re all about mums.

“It’s mostly women and mums that have raised that $13.4 million for cancer research and COVID gave me a chance to reflect and think of those contributions and to invent and curate an homage of thanks to all mums everywhere for all the mumming.”

Dear Mum is an anthology of letters to mums written by a host of big names, including Amanda Keller, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Gibney and Patti Newton.

Johnson said the number of people wanting to submit pieces for the book shows how special mums are to us.

“It was a joy to curate this book, it didn’t take long, there were so many takers and so many of my heroes are in this book.”

Born and raised in Daylesford, Johnson will be appearing at the Bendigo Writers Festival this weekend with his sister, Hilde Hinton, with whom he co-wrote the book Heroes Next Door.

The book features stories of people they met while travelling Australia raising money for Love Your Sister.

“My sister, Hilde, has an extremely capable mind and is exceptionally gifted socially with other people and has a knack for finding special people out there and,” he said.

The Gold Logie winner said he credits his love of writing to his parents and family, who have operated a second-hand bookshop in his hometown for three decades.

“My dad wrote 15 books, and my mum was a poet,” he said.

“Writing’s much more important to me than acting and reading and writing have gifted me to the ticket to all the rainbows, and the importance of reading and writing can’t be understated.

“For me writing is not just a life raft, but a vehicle to satisfy my every curiosity.”

Johnson said while he’s pleased with how far the charity has grown, he needs to do more in his efforts to vanquish cancer.

“I started trying to raise one million, I adjusted my goal to 10 million and my next goal is a million a month. It can’t be achieved soon enough because we’re still losing too many.”

While in Bendigo, Johnson will be at several Mother’s Day stalls, including Amcal Pharmacy Kennington at 11am-11.30am on Saturday, 8 May; Bendigo Showgrounds Market from 9am to 10.30am on Sunday; and Big 4 Bendigo Ascot Holiday Park at 12pm that afternoon.

For tickets to the Tell Me About It event at the Bendigo Writers Festival featuring Samuel Johnson and Hilde Hinton, visit bit.ly/3nFMpye.