Turning vanishing worlds into compelling fiction

WHEN Andrew Pippos sits down to write a novel, he likes to place his characters at the centre of moments that have reshaped Australian society.

His acclaimed debut, Lucky, explored the making of multicultural Australia in the 20th century through the lens of the Greek cafes and milk bars that once dotted the country’s high streets before gradually disappearing.

For his latest novel, Pippos turned his attention to what he sees as one of the defining forces of the 21st century: digital disruption.

The Transformations is a love story that unfolds inside the newsroom of a fictional national newspaper, The National, during a period of uncertainty for the media industry.

“It’s set in 2014, when there was particular anxiety about the future of newspapers – not that that’s been resolved,” he said.

While the story and characters are fictional, Pippos draws on settings he knows well.

Before becoming an author and lecturer in creative writing at the University of Technology Sydney, he worked for newspapers including The Independent in London, The Guardian and The Australian.

He also grew up in a family that ran Greek cafes – a world he remembers with affection but refuses to romanticise.

“I miss them, and I feel like they added something very special to Australian culture, but at the same time they were horrific places to work,” he said.

“They were open seven days a week from 6am to 9pm. My grandparents, aunts and uncles worked seven days a week their whole lives. I could see how tough that life was and I tried to write about the hard aspects of it.

“With newspapers I’m trying to be frank about how newsrooms are these strange places that are sometimes quite unpleasant, but they’re also quite special – engaged in this work of describing the world anew every day. They’re really remarkable institutions.”

Pippos believes the challenges facing the media industry are part of a broader shift affecting Australian society.

“We see a lot of institutions in Australian life being weakened simultaneously in the 21st century – newspapers, universities, public schools,” he said.

Pippos is already several thousand words into his next novel, but he is keeping the plot under wraps for now, revealing only that it will continue his fascination with the questions that shape human relationships.

“Thematically, I’m interested in the limits of what we can know about the people we love, and how we make sense of that,” he said.

Andrew Pippos is speaking at the Byron Writers Festival on Saturday 15 August.

For more information and tickets, visit byronwritersfestival.com.