Christian White is an Australian author and screenwriter whose projects include feature film Relic. The Nowhere Child is his first book and one of Australia’s bestselling debut novels ever. An early draft of this novel won the 2017 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript. Since publication The Nowhere Child has been shortlisted for major awards including the Australian Book Industry Awards’ General Fiction Book of the Year and Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year, and the Indie Book Awards’ Debut Fiction Book of the Year. Rights to The Nowhere Child have been sold in 17 territories around the world, and were acquired in a major screen deal by Anonymous Content (US) and Carver Films (Australia).
Clickbait, a television series Christian co-created with Tony Ayres (The Slap) is currently being developed by Netflix. Christian’s keenly awaited second book, The Wife and the Widow was published by Affirm Press on 24 September, 2019.
Christian lives in Melbourne with his wife, filmmaker Summer DeRoche, and their adopted greyhound, Issy.
Welcome Author Christian White
Tell us a bit about your favorite things to do, other than writing, do you like reading specific authors?
My favourite thing in the world is to hang out at home with my wife (Summer) and dog (Issy). I’m a real homebody, so spending time in my own little corner of the world with my people refills my energy levels.
I read a pretty broad range of authors, but whenever Stephen King or Haruki Murakami bring out anything new, I’m onto it right away!
How did you come up with the idea of your story for The Wife and the Widow?
The Wife and The Widow is set in a small coastal down during the dead of winter. This setting was inspired my own sea-change. A couple of years ago my wife and I made the very impulsive decision to move out of Melbourne and into the small coastal town called Ocean Grove. During the summer it swells with tourists, but during the colder months the tourists drift away and only the locals remain. There’s something eerie about the stillness, and I knew right away it would make a great setting for a thriller/mystery. The town in the book is fictional but it’s a hybrid of a number of coastal towns I love, including Ocean Grove and Mallacoota.
The idea to tell the story from the perspective of a woman whose husband disappears and a woman whose husband might be a killer, came from a questions I’ve long been obsessed with: how well do we know the people we love?
How long did it take you to complete writing your book?
A little over a year.
What is the message (theme or takeaway), would you want readers to embrace in your story?
I hope the readers finish my book asking how well they know the people in their lives and more importantly, how far would they go to protect them.
Which actresses would you cast to play the roles of Kate and Abby?
I can’t even begin to answer this question – there are far too many wonderful Australian actors that I can’t choose.
What amazing experience did you learn while writing The Wife and the Widow?
That whenever I get stuck, ask my wife. She has all the answers and is a born storyteller.
What advice would you give to anyone wanting to become a writer?
This is a boring answer but also the truth: read a lot and write a lot.
Do you have a new book in the making? Maybe a new feature film? I know that my readers would be excited to know about what’s coming up. Is there anything you would like to share with them?
I’ve recently signed up for two more books with Affirm Press, so that will be keeping me busy for a while.
Connect with Christian White
Twitter | Instagram | Email: christian@christian-white.com
