What inspired you to begin a writing career?

I had always loved words and writing, and had a vague sense that I might write a book of some kind one day, but it always felt like I needed permission (from whom, who knows!). But then I had my first child, and that whole first year was a really clarifying experience. With a little mental space from my day job, I suddenly realised: if not now, when? I knew that fabled ‘one day’ would never arrive unless I decided it was today. 

At the same time, I was rediscovering the joy of picture books – both vicariously, through watching my daughter, but also in my own right. I started to appreciate just how much was going on in picture books, beneath their apparent simplicity. I could see how they speak to children and adults at the same time, and the child inside the adult, through pictures and words and the musicality of spoken language, and even the rhythm of the page turns – there was so much to consider. It was a challenge I couldn’t resist.

What does it mean to you to have your book selected as the National Simultaneous Storytime book for 2025?

It’s an absolute thrill – and at the same time, quite surreal that so many eyes will be on it, simultaneously! 

I am also thrilled to say that the ASA played a big role in making it happen. I wrote the manuscript that became The Truck Cat at the end of 2021, and pitched it online to Rebecca McRitchie (then of Hardie Grant) in a 3-minute ASA Virtual Literary Speed Dating session in May 2022. She took the manuscript to acquisitions the next month, and by early July it was signed – with the bonus good news that Danny Snell was keen to illustrate!  

As soon as I saw Danny’s roughs, I knew this would be a special book. Even the sketches made me cry. It’s a book that you could probably call ‘quiet,’ which made its selection for National Simultaneous Storytime a real surprise, but it fills me with such joy that this ​story of belonging will touch so many readers all around Australia – so many of whom will be immigrants or children of immigrants themselves. 

More generally, what a great event to be involved with! Helping kids fall in love with reading is so, so important, and the Australian Library and Information Association does such a brilliant job in promoting the role of libraries for young readers. It’s a privilege to get to be part of it! 

And then finally, from a purely pragmatic point of view, I am also incredibly aware how lucky I am to benefit from this spotlight at an early stage in my writing career, since The Truck Cat is only my third book.

What do you know now that you wish you’d known at the start of your career?

That rejection is pretty much universal! I now know that the business of writing is truly a mind game – but at the beginning, it was hard not to take each rejection personally.  It took time until I had found my way into the writing community, and it dawned on me that ‘no thanks’ (or silence) is the default – and it’s not always about the quality of the writing. 

Once I learned more about the economics of the industry, I began to appreciate how essential it is that your manuscript doesn’t just tell a great story, but also answers a need in the market. Somebody has to buy your book in the end, after all! 

I wish I had figured out faster that the key to success in traditional publishing isn’t talent itself, but a combination of pragmatism about these factors, and dogged determination.

Which Australian authors and illustrators are influential for you?

To narrow it down to picture books, I am a big fan of Bob Graham. The child-centred perspective, the gentle and relatable truths, the way there’s something for readers of every age in his books – he’s an absolute master. I also pore over Jane Godwin’s picture books – they’re a masterclass in writing text which leaves space for the illustrator to strengthen and deepen the narrative.

Why are you a member of the ASA? 

In a selfish sense, I have received so many opportunities through the ASA: an Award Mentorship in 2020, Literary Speed Dating as I mentioned, a whole lot of seminars and learning sessions, and quite a bit of contract advice at one stage or another, as well as invaluable info about how to charge (and more specifically, not radically undersell yourself!) for school, library, and festival appearances. Joining the ASA truly unlocked the door to what can seem like an impenetrable industry.

But more broadly, it’s important to me to stand with other authors and illustrators. Making stories can feel like an endangered activity right now – whether the threat is from AI or just the impossible economics of it all during a cost of living crisis. I am so grateful for the ASA’s advocacy over the decades, and its continued support to us all.

Find out more about Deborah Frenkel at deborahfrenkel.com or debdoeswords.