In Conversation with BlackWords - Lorraine McGee-Sippel

In Conversation with BlackWords

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Lorraine McGee-Sippel In Conversation with BlackWords
In the eleventh of this series of interviews, Anita speaks to Lorraine McGee-Sippel.
Lorraine McGee-Sippel is the author of the memoir Hey Mum, What's a Half-Caste? and winner of the 2009 Deadly Award for Outstanding Contribution to Literature. Her years of commitment to reconciliation, particularly in the Lane Cove municipal area, saw her receive the Yabun Elder of the Year award in 2009. She currently lives in Sydney.
Who’s your mob? Where did you grow up?

[I am] a Wemba Wemba, Yorta Yorta, Anglo-Celtic, woman living in Cameraygal Country, North Sydney. Adopted soon after birth in Sydney in 1943, I grew up in country New South Wales, and the suburbs of Sydney. Riding a horse, milking a cow, and collecting eggs one day, catching public transport the next.
What was your favourite book growing up?

My favourite book was Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White. An unlikely friendship between Wilbur the pig and Charlotte, a wise spider who helped Wilbur believe in himself and who ultimately saved his life.
What book has had an impact on your life and why?

Hey Mum, What's a Half-Caste? by Lorraine McGee-Sippel

If Everyone Cared: Autobiography of Margaret Tucker. Tucked inside were my grandmother, her siblings, parents and grandparents on Moonahcullah reserve, outside Deniliquin, New South Wales. A treasure trove.
What’s the last book you read?

Below Stairs: the Bestselling Memoir of a 1920’s Kitchen Maid by Margaret Powell. The journey of fifteen-year-old Margaret’s life in service. The prejudices, the class system, and slave-like conditions between masters and servants. These were the same attitudes and sense of entitlement that were brought here.
Is there a book you just couldn’t finish?

The Eye of the Storm by Patrick White. Recommended by a friend who was a fan of Patrick White’s. It was obvious I wasn’t.
What book have you read more than once?

Charlotte’s Web, and If Everyone Cared: Autobiography of Margaret Tucker.
What book do you think every Australian should read?

Southerly : A Handful of Sand : Words to the Frontline

Southerly, Vol 71, No. 2, 2011, A Handful of Sand: Words to the Frontline. An invaluable resource,of Australia’s First Nations writers. Co-edited by two of our best, Ali Cobby Eckermann and Lionel Fogarty. Across all genres, ages and life experiences - compulsory reading, should be in all high schools and universities. Another is Forgotten War by Henry Reynolds which addresses Australia’s selective amnesia in relation to the wars fought between Traditional Owners and the Invaders. Where are our memorials?
Of all art forms, why literature?

The immediacy and convenience of applying pen to paper. Finger to keyboard. No major outlays.
How did you start writing?

I didn’t choose writing. It chose me, I was the messenger.
Did you do anything to help you learn to write or did it just come naturally?

Poetry flowed onto the page, whereas prose needed all the help it could get. Beginning with the New South Wales Writers’ Centre, and writing courses. Writers' groups and mentors - even then it was a struggle.
What do you love about writing?

Writing can make things clearer, and put life into perspective, and that requires patience.
What’s your aim as a writer?

The aim is to inform, to educate, correct myths, stereotypes, and to learn in the process.
Who do you write for?

Initially, I write for myself. What follows, follows.
What do you think makes a 'good writer'?

Discipline, routine, structure, belief in self, and in the story. Don’t be too proud to seek or heed advice/structural criticism. Listen and share with writers whom you admire. Join a writers group if that’s for you. Read widely. Write at the same time every day, don’t stop to edit!! Reward yourself at the end of the day.
Do you have a writing role model or inspiration?

Ali Cobby-Eckermann, Alice Pung, Anita Heiss, Gayle Kennedy, Kate Howarth, Bruce Pascoe, Lionel Fogarty, Markus Zusak, Stephen King. Some of the many writers whose work I admire and have enjoyed.
What’s the best tip you were ever given in relation to writing?

Keep your sentences short, don’t waffle on. Know your story and what you want to say. Then say it!
Do you have any advice you could offer on writing and publishing?

It’s your story, don’t be afraid to question or challenge the publisher if you are in doubt or disagree with what they are doing, or propose to do. It’s too late afterwards.
What are you working on right now?

Working on travel plans.

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