The Stella Interview: Jamie Marina Lau (劉劍冰) on Pink Mountain on Locust Island
Jamie Marina Lau (劉劍冰) is shortlisted for the 2019 Stella Prize for her novel Pink Mountain on Locust Island. In this special Stella interview, Jamie shares her favourite passage from the novel, and shares her thoughts on the future of Australian writing.
What was your first thought when you heard you’d been selected for the Stella shortlist?
I can’t wait to tell my mum.
Can you share with us your favourite passage from Pink Mountain on Locust Island?
“The whole truth is that as an artist you must go through the process. You make something, be happy, see it as a form of shit, be sad, make something new, and so on. Dad is crying while sitting on the toilet.”
What are your thoughts on Australian literature — past, present or future?
Australia needs its women of colour, non-binary and overall diverse writers and we need to stop restricting their space to write how they need to and share how they need to.
How long did Pink Mountain on Locust Island take you to write from concept to completion?
It was in the back of my mind for a month or two after writing the first few ‘sections’ and then took me about two months to finish once I started — which is very quick for me, I usually take a lot more time.
Australia needs its women of colour, non-binary and overall diverse writers and we need to stop restricting their space to write how they need to and share how they need to.
How do you write? (Where, when, on what?)
If I write it can be for as short as an hour up to seven hours. I’ve got too many tabs open and I’m repeating music and watching videos, documentaries, parts of films, reading articles and other books. I’m so fussy, I can’t try to write in the same place twice in a row, it nearly throws me off. I journal heaps by hand but write mostly on my laptop.
Who inspires you?
Toni Morrison, Kurt Vonnegut, Gertrude Stein, Claudia Rankine, Banana Yoshimoto, a lot of the Bible, Wanda Robinson, Laraaji, Miles Davis, Hayao Miyazaki, Wong Kar Wai.
What are you working on next?
I’m working on my next novel, poetry and producing music.
Jamie Marina Lau (劉劍冰) is a twenty-one-year-old writer and musician from Melbourne. Her work can be found in Cordite, ROOKIE, Voiceworks, the Art Hoe Collective and in Monash University’s 2016 anthology Futures. She is currently studying film and literature, producing music, and working on more fiction.
