Meet the Ships in the Night #13 headliners: Laurie Steed

Fresh from a successful double showing at Fringe World back in February, Ships in the Night is returning on Thursday for their thirteenth celebration of local words and music.

Taking place at Paper Mountain in Northbridge, the event will once again feature a collection of local writers, and musicians headed up by two headline acts; who this time are author and editor Laurie Steed and Xine creator and RTRfm’s Tristan Fidler.

Joining the headliners on the bill are Axel Carrington, Elizabeth Lewis, Hugh Manning and Ciocia Ola. Whilst music will come from New Nausea and Golden String.

Ahead of the night we caught up with the two headliners to find out a little more about them, their practice and their work – and of course being about words and music we couldn’t help but find out what they were listening to as well.

First up Laurie Steed.

What’s your take on the state of the Perth literary scene?

I think that it’s better than it used to be. It’s always a challenge to set up literary initiatives in Perth, but more recently, organisations like Paper Mountain, The Centre for Stories, and, of course, Ships in the Night have left me more hopeful than previously.

The key here is collaboration. The more these organisations, and, by extension, WA’s independent publishers, begin to talk, the greater a vision we can have for WA’s literary future.

How do you approach the writing/creative process?

At present I approach it whenever I can, with one eye always fixed on the study door, lest the handle rattle, and my two and a half year old son Oscar come bounding in. I often write

to music (my mind runs around fifteen parallel threads without some form of sensory immersion), so I listen to stuff like Kerry Muzzey and the Candlepark Stars, Eluvium, Goldmund, in order to find deep focus, and to simply let the words come.

What are you currently reading?

I’m currently reading entries for the In My View photography competition, which closes July 31st. I like to read these as I go; this particular competition asks readers to write words for an accompanying image, so there’s this reimagining aspect at play, or reframing of the image as it stands. So far, there have already been some interesting interpretations and evocations of what’s been captured by the photographer.

What is your go to album/song/band at the moment?

Eluvium has a new album out, Curious Things, which is amazing. Eluvium’s albums have these thick soundscapes, they almost reverberate out of the headphones, there’s that much tangibility to them. Pitchfork described an earlier album of his (Eluvium is really just instrumentalist Matthew Robert Cooper, under another name) as maintaining a ‘deep-seated ache’, which is pretty much spot on.

What is the one book/text/work you think everyone should read? And why?

I think everyone should read Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger at least once, because it’s honest, and raw, and alive all at once.

Today’s literature is so often topical, or buzz-based; it’s rare that any piece of prose is as accessible or universal, as Salinger at his best.

What are you currently working on?

I’m currently putting the finishing touches on You Belong Here, a book about one particular type of family. Joyce Carol Oates once said that ‘the regional voice is the universal voice’. I hope she’s right. If not, I still enjoyed learning more about brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, daughters and sons.

Ships in the Night #13 takes place on Thursday 19th May at Paper Mountain in Northbridge, Perth. For more information and to book tickets visit HERE

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Simon Clark

Books Editor. An admirer of songs and reader of books. Simon has a PhD in English and Comparative Literature. All errant apostrophes are his own.