Australian author Tony Park found inspiration on the African plains and never looked back. JESSICA BROWN talked travel tales with the international best-selling author when he stopped in to the Hunter as part of Maitland City Library’s Look Who’s Talking program.
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In 1995 Tony Park and his wife jumped on a plane to visit the African continent for what was going to be a once-in-a-lifetime holiday.
Like most travellers they had hoped to take back memories of wild animal sightings and landscapes bathed in the African sun.
But Park found more than memories; he found inspiration and the perfect setting for his first book – Far Horizon.
“The people were not only very welcoming but had a wealth of stories,” he said.
“I always wanted to write a novel and I found no end of inspirations in Africa.”
That first trip included South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe, but since then the author has also spent time in Mozambique, Namibia, Kenya, Zambia, Tanzania and Rwanda.
“What keeps us coming back as visitors is it’s a different experience each time,” he said.
“Because I have been a writer for the past 20 years I have seen mammoth changes in the countries I visit.”
He said some countries had changed for the better such as Namibia, Rwanda and Mozambique.
“When we first visited they were all coming out of wars,” he said.
“To different degrees they were all shot up, but they have managed to reinvent themselves.”
In other countries, such as Zimbabwe, Park said things had changed for the worse.
“Zimbabwe 20 years ago was prosperous, harmonious and productive,” he said.
“Now it’s gone backwards.”
Park was in Maitland to promote his new book, An Empty Coast, a thriller set in Namibia.
The story starts when the remains of a body are found. They end up being the key to unlocking the location of a modern-day buried treasure.
The book is the author’s 12th novel in a very impressive career.
“I was very lucky to make a living off my books,” he said. “I think it is important for people to realise that we have a strong and vibrant Australian publishing scene.”
It was not always about books for the travel-hungry author.
Park has worked as a reporter, a press secretary, a public relations consultant and a freelance writer.
These days the novelist spends about half of each year on the edge of South Africa’s Kruger National Park.
“I could write a book a year for the rest of my life and I wouldn’t even scratch the surface,” he said.
