An Interview with author Alwyn Lewis
Jan.s: Alwyn, you write about the earth with such an immense feeling of belonging. Alwyn: I guess I’ve always had the feeling that we belong to the earth, not the other way around. Whenever I see those huge open cut mines I shudder at what we do to the earth for financial gain, even the weight of the cities man builds on her seem an imposition. I remember being quite a small child in New Zealand and after an earthquake my father took me to see where the earth had opened in a great jagged scar and I wondered at that early age if the earth had cried out in pain. Jan s: Your book “Call of the Currawong” begins with an aboriginal woman in a seemingly benign setting – but the story quickly unfolds to reveal cruel and devastating circumstances. Where did the seed for this story germinate? Alwyn: In talking with some aboriginal women it occurred to me that although their circumstances and the circumstances of my grandmother’s life were v...