Christos Tsiolkas

And he gave me some of the greatest gifts that a teacher can give a young person who loves reading.

He gave me the red and the black Stendhal, which is still one of my favourite novels.

He opened up the world of European literature that I hadn't been, that I didn't really know about.

And so I guess it felt right when I was thinking, who do I dedicate this book to?

Do I dedicate it to someone?

And he had passed away a few years ago, sadly, but it felt absolutely right that I say thank you to this man who had been instrumental in making me a reader and in making me a reader, making me a writer.

And I think that's... Sorry, I've just been interrupting you and I do apologise, but I actually... I guess that's what I would like to say to people about Patrick Wyatt is...

don't read him through the lens of the dead white male.

Yes.

There are critiques we can make, and I try and make some of them in the book, but I guess I'm suggesting, or I'm saying in terms of my understanding of him now, is if you want to know what it is to write, if you want to know what it is to tell a story, if you want to actually know what it is to tell an Australian story, please read this man.

He's one of the guides.

Or is that just me?

That's a really good question, Cassie, because I would say to you in response that I do remember when I made the decision to read all the novels that part of that decision was to leave Flaws in the Glass and to leave the Marr biography right till the end because I thought I'm going to...

I'm going to try and, what I wanted to do was read the man's work, you know, not to read his life, read the work and see what the work gave me.

I'm really grateful for Mars Biography because once you fall in love with white, and I've fallen in love with white.

then the biography gives you this immense wealth of detail.

This kind of... It feels... It's a joy itself to read after the experience of having fallen in love with White.

But I... For me, I would suggest that you...

you start with white and then get to the biography and then get to the flaws in the glass as well, which is a witty and caustic and terrific bit of writing, but it's also, I don't think, the full story.

It never is the full story when we writers tell our biographies.