Member Spotlight: Susannah Begbie

6.12.22

Our December Member Spotlight features Susannah Begbie! Susannah was recently announced as the winner of the 2022 Richell Prize for Emerging Writers for her manuscript, When Trees Fall Without Warning.

Susannah grew up on a sheep farm in NSW. She moved to Sydney to study medicine and was immediately homesick for a place that smells of dry grass and dust. She has worked as a GP from Boggabri to Broome, South Coast to Red Centre and a whole lot of places in between. In 2006 Susannah started a Graduate Diploma in Professional Writing at Canberra Unviersity. She was awarded the Editor's Pick for short story 'Fly to meet you', published in the UCAN anthology Undertow, and won a CBCA (ACT branch) sponsored prize for picture book manuscript Don't You Dare! Then she got distracted with a novel idea. When Trees Fall Without Warning is the result. It is her first novel.

What inspired you to begin writing?

I’ve always enjoyed writing in an incidental sort of way, but it never occurred to me that writing might be a career. My first experience of writing for an audience came when I was doing locum GP work in Ireland. I wrote ‘The Locum Diaries’, for family and friends and it was a lot of fun. I loved the writing, and enjoyed entertaining others. On return a friend, also a GP-writer, recommended the Graduate Diploma in Professional Writing at Canberra University. It was a fantastic course, and just what I needed. It gave me the chance to try out different genres, and to learn from teachers who are also established authors. In particular, Sarah St Vincent Welch, Anthony Eaton and Irma Gold were very encouraging. (Do I confess that fifteen years on I still haven’t finished this course? One day, someday…)

What does it mean to you to be awarded the 2022 Richell Prize for Emerging Writers for When Trees Fall Without Warning?

There is an almost impossible divide between an unpublished writer and the audience they hope to meet. Literary prizes for emerging writers are one of the (very few) ways across.

Three months ago, I had an unsolicited manuscript and a bunch of rejection emails/no replies. Thanks to the Richell Prize I now have a publishing mentorship with Hachette, a very generous ten-thousand-dollar prize, a literary agent – the Jane Novak Literary Agency – and a real chance of being published. 

So, it means everything. 

What do you know now that you wish you’d known at the very beginning of your writing career?

Keyboard shortcuts. 

That powerthesaurus.org existed.

That every word counts, but none are indispensable. ‘Kill your darlings’ is real.

That paying a professional editor (after a few/many, many drafts) transforms a manuscript. 

To turn my phone off. 

To make time. 

That writing, my writing – even when it has not been published or read by others – is worth making time for.

Which Australian authors have been influential for your writing practice?

Reading Australian literature feels like coming home. There is a face-slapping reality to it; the boldness of a writer who tells it like it is, and understands that not everything needs to be told.  

I suppose every book we read is influential. These are a few I have loved. 

Ruth Park, especially for Playing Beattie Bow. Also, The Harp in the South and Poor Man’s Orange. Then D’Arcy Niland, and The Shiralee; Peter Carey’s True History of the Kelly Gang, Kate Grenville’s Lillian, Michael Leunig, John Marsden, David Malouf and Miles Franklin. Oh, Miles Franklin!

Why do you think it is important to be a member of the ASA?

For every reason! 

Courses – I was doing Pitch Perfect in preparation for Literary Speed Dating at the time I got longlisted. It was excellent.

Exposure – for your work, and also your exposure to the work of others. 

Current affairs/writing news – it’s good to know what’s going down in your profession.

Help! I have been amazed by how generous the ASA is in providing advice, or direction to another source of information if needed. 

If you’re reading this you are probably already a member. If not, become one!

You can find out more about Susannah Begbie at www.susannahbegbiewrites.au