The House of Youssef – Six Years On

The House of Youssef was released six years ago at the start of September, 2019.

Before this book was published, I had been writing for fifteen years. Almost all of those writings were stories and even these days, the majority of my writing is fiction. I do write an occasional essay but to my mind, fiction has greater possibilities. Even when I wish to write non-fiction, my thoughts tend to steer towards fiction and I have a big question mark over what’s called non-fiction or memoir and biography because I believe the minute we begin to write, we’re stepping into the territory of embellishment.

The House of Youssef changed my life. I tend to be more comfortable discussing reading than writing, but I think because it has so many stories in it, this first book of mine captured a whole variety of experience when considered holistically.

The novel reigns supreme in publishing today but an ecosystem of stories has greater possibilities in capturing a world or the stories of a specific community. If The House of Youssef had been a novel, it would’ve tracked the experience of one character as they went through a period of conflict that is then resolved by the book’s end.

On the other hand, a collection of short stories can include snippets, fables, parables, scenes, vignettes and then things that can be more comfortably categorised as a story.

There were six short stories that were recommended to be cut from the final version of The House of Youssef from Motherland. I cut three but there were three others that I resisted cutting. One of those is Covered which continues to be one of my favourite pieces across all my writings and it’s also a piece that readers have also told me that they love.

All in all, it is a book that I am proud of and I’m grateful that Ivor Indyk and Giramondo took on an unpublished author to give me my start. I have worked with two book publishers so far and what I appreciate about Ultimo Press and Giramondo is that they both have supported my vision, that they have been enthusiastic about my inclination towards pushing literary boundaries.

The House of Youssef was listed for the Stella Prize, Queensland Literary Awards, Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, ALS Gold Medal and the Readings Prize. This was in 2020 when most literary events were cancelled due to the pandemic. It was nice to have this recognition for the book.

So here’s to more stories, to more experimentation, to expansion and to pushing structure so I can reach deeper with the thread of language!