By Callum Ludwig
Author, screenwriter and producer Christian White was 37 when he had his first book published but had been writing for 20 years. He spent time around famil in Yarra Junction growing up, and now has a bestselling series, which started with ‘overnight success’ The Nowhere Child.
Mr White’s debut novel won the 2017 Wheeler Centre Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Best Unpublished Manuscript and has been shortlisted for major awards including the Australian Book Industry Awards’ General Fiction Book of the Year and Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year, and the Indie Book Awards’ Debut Fiction Book of the Year since being published.
Mr White has released three novels (The Nowhere Child, The Wife and the Widow and Wild Place), co-wrote the feature film Relic, and co-created the television series Clickbait with Tony Ayres which went straight to number 1 on Netflix in 41 countries, including Australia, the US and the UK.
Mr White gave Star Mail an insight into his reading habits for Book Week.
-What are you currently reading?
The Match, by Harlan Coben, which is a sequel to The Boy in the Woods. I will read anything Harlan Coben writes! Before that was The Wrong Woman by the wonderful J.P. Pomare.
-Which book have you read the most number of times and why?
I usually re-read The Beach by Alex Garland every summer. It’s a near-perfect novel written in the 90s, with relatable characters and an amazing setting. When I read it as a teen, I felt as though it was written for me.
-What book or series do you hope will be turned into a movie or tv show one day?
City on Fire by Don Winslow. This is one of my favourite books in recent memory and is just asking for an adaptation!
-Who’s your all-time favourite book character?
Pennywise the dancing clown, from Stephen King’s It. To this day, I can’t walk past an open drain without a shiver creeping up my spine.
