“Like most writers, I have a job and family commitments. The time, energy and creativity needed to write is easily cannibalised. This grant bought time so I could convert dollars into words.”
Shankari humbly recognises that winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award and receiving grant funding is an experience shared by few Australian writers.
“Writing is a very long game. Most writing you see on the page or on screen has taken years to develop. Few people see the huge amount of time invested – to research, write, edit, then get a publisher. It can take years to get a manuscript ready to market, then further time to reach readers or have your book optioned for screen.
“Most people do not have the means to sustain the long game, and most writers have other jobs. Literature receives a very small proportion of government funding. Writing and literature is like the poor, introverted sibling in the art world. We’re surrounded by flashier, more seductive siblings like TV and film who often draw from the foundational skill of the quiet one.”
As the Co-Deputy chair of Writing NSW, Shankari is a passionate advocate for Literature to be more highly valued, as an artform, in its educational value for young minds and as a tool for social change. She emphasises the importance of not only supporting writers, but the organisations that nurture the writers and a diverse storytelling culture.
“With ever-diminishing funding for literature, the most effective way of preserving a vibrant, diverse storytelling culture is to fund the organisations that support the writers.”
“I don’t remember my first spreadsheet, but I remember stories from a very young age.”
