Hello my name is Debra Milton. I am an Australian teacher, a lifelong lover of ideas and words and sometimes poet and author.
I have been writing poetry for the past forty-five years and it has taken me that long to feel like I sometimes get it right. Three years ago my journey as a novelist began after reading the book ‘Burial Rites’ by Hannah Kent. I loved her writing so much I was completely inspired to start my own story writing. I loved the historical context of ‘Burial Rites’ (I am a history teacher from a former life) and I was teaching a book at school set in the poverty stricken suburb where my mother grew up. The novel by Robert Newton ‘Runner’ is a fantastic read for teenagers, set in Richmond during in the aftermath of the last pandemic the world saw in 1918.
My mother was then ninety years old and when I would spend time with her, she would look back at the characters and events from her past as a girl in Richmond, sift through photos of the past and share stories that I had heard many times over, and then others when prompted by me that I had never heard. All of these stories were overflowing with history, heartache, humour, pathos and human tragedy.
Suddenly one night, I sat bolt upright in bed realising what my first novel was about. My mother’s life story had every single element of a great narrative, and so much more; because it really happened.
For those of you who do not know Australia, or the inner city slums of Melbourne early last century, I will be blogging information about ‘Struggletown’ where my mother and father grew up. It is a story as wild as the poor Irish catholics that formed the majority of the ‘great unwashed’ inhabitants of this desperate and boisterous place. It is fascinating history of the Twentieth Century Irish diaspora, and a biography of a journey through that emotionally dangerous landscape by one girl/woman/mother who I feel represents all of us, and what we do to survive the life we are born into.
I have received great feedback from family and friends so far, and would very much like to share my writing with a wider community of other lovers of prose and poetry. My manuscript over half finished. As I release each chapter I hope to gain feedback about how it reads for others, and if they find it engrossing and well-written.
I am excited to be a part of a writing community!!
Memoirs and Memories 