1982: A burning issue

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Tags: Arts, books, winter-2009

Duncan Richardson, BA (hons), GDipEd

The release of his first novel last year might never have come about if Duncan Richardson hadn’t met a fellow student in an English lecture who said he collected rejection slips.

Duncan Richardson

Suddenly the leap into the world of publishing, where egos were bound to be bruised, didn’t seem so daunting.

Throughout his English studies at UQ, Mr Richardson’s goal to be a writer was established. By the time he finished his Diploma of Education, he had published his first poem in a small magazine.

However, it wasn’t until Mr Richardson began working part-time as an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher that his writing career took off.

Since then, he has published three poetry books, a radio play on the ABC, a literary guide to Brisbane and short fiction for children.

Jason Chen and the Time Banana is based around the 1864 Great Fire of Brisbane, which destroyed most of the CBD including the block where the Myer Centre now stands.

The time travel novel for upper primary aged children is set in Brisbane old and new, and introduces cannibal librarians, gold diggers and an evil gang determined to rule the streets.

Mr Richardson drew on his experience of multicultural Brisbane to write the novel.

The main character, Jason, who is of Vietnamese-Chinese heritage, is based on many children who find themselves in between two worlds, born in Australia to parents from overseas.

“The story begins with his life here and now, school, parents and so on,” Mr Richardson said.

“The readers then see the old town through his eyes as they share his adventure in the past, when children’s lives were very different, and hopefully readers will share his excitement at going to this strange place and taking part in an event that changed the city we live in today.”

The book is published by Brisbane-based Interactive Press.

By Eliza Plant

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