Markus Zusak
About Author
Markus Zusak is best known as the author of The Book Thief, a breathtaking novel about a girl living in Nazi Germany whose world is opened up by reading. The book became a word of mouth bestseller across the globe. Fighting Ruben Wolfe is Markus's second novel which was first published a decade ago. Markus lives in Sydney with his wife and daughter and when he's not writing spends plenty of time surfing.
Interview
Markus Zusak is best known as author of The Book Thief but this month, Random House Children's Books publishes one of his earliest titles, Fighting Ruben Wolfe. The story is about two teenage brothers who decide to enter the shadowy world of backstreet boxing. Here, the author talks about what inspired him to write the book.
Q: Where does Fighting Ruben Wolfe sit in your 'writing career'?
A: It was my second published book, and it was the first one to get a little more attention here at home in Australia. In terms of writing development, it was an important book for me because it was a lot more plot-driven than the first one (The Underdog). There was more at stake for the characters. It made me realise that I wanted to grow with every book I wrote.
Q: Are you pleased to see Fighting Ruben Wolfe back in print?
A: It's always a bit nerve-racking to put a book out, but after ten years, it's a bit less so; the book isn't as fresh in your mind, so you feel a bit more off the hook.
Q: Were your own teen years anything like Cameron or Ruben's?
A: I was probably a lot like Cameron in that I was fairly introspective. The relationship between Cameron and Ruben wasn't exactly like my brother and I. The part that's most realistic is the way they talk to each other across the room at night. That seemed to be the only time we really communicated at that time in our lives. We grunted at each other in daylight and talked at night.
Q: Why do you write about young adults?
A: I think it has a lot to do with the age I started writing, when I was 16. When we start writing, most of us will instinctively write what we know, and I knew about being a teenager, so that was where I started. The thing is, you don't have the endurance or skills to write a full novel at 16 (except for exceptional cases like S.E Hinton), so you build on it and hope to be published a bit later. That's how it was for me, anyway. Writing about that age group was the natural place to start.
Q: Do you feel you are writing for boys and focusing on their issues - siblings, identity, communication etc?
A: No, I think I just wrote what I felt I could go the distance with. I never focused on boys and brothers and boxing. I wrote a book I thought I could finish, and it happened to bring those elements into it. I hope I'm making sense...
Q: What took you into exploring siblings?
A: I don't think I'd be a writer if I didn't have a brother and two sisters. Or at least, I'd be a very different one. That was just a world I knew so well. I'm the youngest of four kids, so in many ways, I never needed friends. In particular, I had my brother to play with, fight with, and grow up with.
Q: What inspired the boxing theme? Is it a sport you've done? Are you sporty?
A: I was drawn to boxing even as a young kid. We basically wrecked all our mum's plants with other games like cricket, football and rugby, and when my brother and I were banned from playing tennis in the back room of our house, we resorted to one-handed boxing contests (we only had one pair of gloves). It's amazing that you think you had a pretty dull childhood and then you remember something like that - and then you end up basing the start of your writing career on it.
In terms of being sporty, I was definitely more sports-driven than school-driven as a child. I grew up playing rugby league, which is very popular here in some parts of Australia, but I never boxed except in the backyard.
Q: And how did the dog, Miffy, that Cameron and Ruby have to look after, get in on the act?
A: My aunt had a Pomeranian named Sam, and I had to look after him when for a few weeks I was 18 or so. It wasn't the most masculine dog to be seen with, so I walked him at night, so no-one would ever see me. There again is just a case of beg, borrow and steal. In The Underdog, Cameron and Rube are responsible for the dog having a heart attack, and in the last installment of Cameron's story, Miffy finally dies and they have a pretty chaotic funeral for him... I got a fair bit of mileage out of poor old Sam the Pomeranian.
Q: Cameron's first fight is terrifying. What was the scariest thing you ever did as a teenager?
A: It would have to be asking a girl out (and failing), and then being out in the surf. Sometimes, being kids, we'd go out into surf that was a bit too big for us, and when a wave breaks right in front of you and you know it's going to hold you down a while, it's not the nicest moment.
Q: The story is set in the city and there's a bit of love/hate there. Are you a city person or country person and why?
A: I'm definitely a city person, but I'm happy to get away from it as well. I grew up in a fairly big city, and I think I'd get a bit lonely without the noise.
Q: Can you say a little bit about the process of writing The Book Thief, perhaps compared to writing Fighting Ruben Wolfe?
A: The Book Thief was much harder. I'm a pretty firm believer that writing gets harder as you go, not easier. I guess the reason for that is you hopefully get better and that leads to being more ambitious. I think I knew I could write Fighting Ruben Wolfe, but I was never sure I could finish The Book Thief. I doubt myself now a lot more.
Q: What was the easiest book for you to write, if there was one?
A: That's a tough one, because none of them were easy, for all sorts of reasons. If anything Fighting Ruben Wolfe was the easiest purely because I had a terrible cough and I couldn't sleep at night. So I stayed up and wrote. That sped things up a bit. Writing would have to be the easiest job in the world to not do.
Q: What is your escape of choice?
A: Definitely surfing, but I only go out in small waves. I'm a coward like that. Then again, you have to know your limits in that sort of thing. It's not much fun sitting out there and being petrified. As it is now, it's a great activity to do when you just need a break and some time to not think.
