Dressmaker novelist employs humour in her own story

THE celebrated author of Australian novel The Dressmaker will visit Ballan this month.

Rosalie Ham will speak at the town’s library on Wednesday 15 April to promote her first non-fiction work Look After Your Feet.

The book addressed key moments in the author’s life with honesty and humour.

Born and raised in Jerilderie, New South Wales, Ham said regional towns were important to her.

“Because they’re a community,” she said. “The centre of farming districts, places of loyalty, support, friendship, sport, culture, the library, post office … life, death and everything in life and before death.”

Ham came to write the book because topics of discussion with her friends and family and throughout the community had changed in the past decade.

“The future isn’t what it once was, nor the body, but we’ve accumulated some very useful, and some useless, information,” she said. “So the point of view is a little brighter.”

In non-fiction mode the author had to trust her own voice.

“I tried to show that ageing is something that we’ve been doing since birth, that is a process of accumulating the gifts of life and that it has lots of positives.”

Ham said The Dressmaker, which was made into a film starring Kate Winslet, changed everything for her.

“It gave me a new career – writing, teaching – the knowledge that I could write books that some people liked, and would buy,” she said.

“It reunited me with a childhood friend who made it into a film and the resulting book sales paid off my mortgage. My world was a little sunnier.”

She said she loved writing because it was creative and soothing.

On tips for budding writers, Ham said to write until they had a body of words they could craft.

“Don’t leave your manuscript until you know what’s going to happen next in the story,” she said.

The author will speak at the free event from 6pm at the Ballan Library and Community Hub.

Bookings and more information at moorabool.vic.gov.au/Events.