Professor Ross Fitzgerald was born in Melbourne on 25 December 1944. Since the death of his wife, Lyndal Moor, five years ago, he has lived alone at ‘Greystoke’, an 1898 terrace in the Sydney suburb of Redfern.
His books include a best-selling memoir My Name is Ross: An Alcoholic’s Journey, and its sequel Fifty Years Sober. And in 2024 he published a major work of fiction, The Ascent of Everest. Professor Fitzgerald has co-authored, with Ian McFayden, four Grafton Everest political satires including Pandemonium, which has been entered for the 2025 Russell Prize for Humour Writing in Australia. He has also been a contributing editor for multiple anthologies.
Could you tell me about how you came to writing as a profession? Who were some of the writers and authors who have most impacted you?
When I was 12, with the encouragement of a member of the Victorian Pen Club, Hilda Dowling, who lived opposite our house at 41 Charles Street, East Brighton, I wrote my first fiction, The Match. It glowed for a moment, and then was snuffed out! It was Mrs Dowling who not only persuaded my parents, Bill and Edna Fitzgerald, to buy me a typewriter but was instrumental in The Match being published in a collection of short stories by young Melbourne writers, in 1958.
Since then, I have authored, coauthored, edited, and coedited 45 books, ranging from Australian political history and biography to memoir, comedy, and sport.
Some of the writers and authors who have most influenced me are the historians Thomas Carlyle, Geoffrey Bolton and Anne Henderson. Also instrumental are the novelists George Elliot and Kurt Vonnegut Jr; the work and characters of my long-time friend Barry Humphries; and the songs of Marianne Faithful. My favourite book is Heartland, a memoir by the Canadian-born political satirist, Mort Sahl.
What have been the biggest shifts in how we, as an Australian public, consume media? Has it affected your writing at all? I'm asking because AI seems to be at the forefront of many writers and journalists' minds.
Clearly the Internet has eclipsed print-media and broadcast television. The number of people reading newspapers and watching television news has dwindled. For better or worse, mainly worse, online news and criticism is the main source for most people.
AI is increasingly used for many utilitarian jobs such as copywriting, writing precise text, book covers and brochure blurbs, even film and television synopses. A time-saver for many people, I am unsure whether this will lead to significant unemployment, i.e. many people being replaced, or simply an increase in output by people who are employed in any capacity. But, so far, AI has not influenced or undermined my writing at all.
Where can we find your writing now? What are some of the issues that you are most preoccupied with now?
Almost all my books are available in print, and online. Most of my political columns, cultural essays and book reviews have been published in newspapers including The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald, and The Daily Telegraph. As well, they appear in magazines, especially Quadrant and The Spectator Australia. Much of my work was, and still is, delivered in the form of numerous radio and television interviews.
As a widowed, sometimes lonely 80 year old, my current preoccupation is elder abuse. This is because many of my elderly friends have been, or are being, badly mistreated by their children, and especially by a number of government agencies and private organisations, including banks and telcos, and by the often-foreign owners of 'retirement villages’ and nursing homes throughout Australia. Although elder abuse does not currently apply to me, it is well and truly time for the elderly to join forces and to fight back.
At the moment, my Queensland-based buddy, Ian McFadyen and I are also working on a new, non-Grafton Everest comic novel for release next year. Chalk and Cheese is about two 80-year-old, former radio stars, who hated each other but who end up in the same nursing home. As was the case with the Grafton Everest satires, my current collaboration with McFadyen is a hoot.
Could you speak on how you've juggled an academic career with writing both books and for various publications?
As an academic, publishing books and articles was a major part of my position as Professor of History and Politics at Griffith University in Brisbane. In the early 1980s, I was constantly attacked for my writings and political commentary by the dictatorial Queensland National Party government of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, who arranged for his Attorney General to sue me for criminal libel. This almost landed me in Boggo Road jail for six years, and led to volume 2 of my history of Queensland being pulped.
As a direct result, I decided that, instead of producing political history, I would write thinly disguised political fiction. This resulted in my first Grafton Everest satire, Pushed from the Wings, which was first published in Australia in 1986 and then in Great Britain and South Africa in 1988.
Since moving to Sydney in 2000 I have had more time to write personal and research based essays and books such as those listed in my brief bio.
What makes for a great piece of cultural/art criticism?
Criticism should be informed as well as entertaining. Erudition is one thing, but a review or critique has to also entertain. Sometimes that means being amusing at the expense of the art. Being fair is also important, although not vital, especially if one wants to outrage and amuse. Entertaining criticism is always going to be more enjoyable for the reader and attractive to media publishers. The idea is not to get too tricky, slick, technical or show-offish. Put yourself in the place of the average reader, and express ideas in terms they can easily understand.
Do you have any advice for young and emerging writers?
The way into professional writing is often writing reviews (books, films, plays, television, etc.) for journals and newspapers which you can submit to various arts and literary editors. These days, the way in for many people is posting video critiques on YouTube and podcasts. This involves writing and delivering your own works with a range of visual sophistication, from straight-to-camera talks to full video overlay.
Young and emerging writers should follow the advice that enabled me to begin work as a published author. This was given to me by my wife and friend of 45 years, the artist, model, and actor Lyndal Moor, during the first year we were together.
Lyndal suggested that I should ‘strive for adequacy not for perfection’ and, at least at first, follow the motto of James Thurber, ‘Don’t get it right, get it written!’ This is because what stops most writers isn’t laziness, it is fear.
When trying to get new work published or released, it is crucial to be simple, and persistent. My suggestion is to send publishers only two paragraphs. The first, a succinct summary of the work. The second, a brief statement as to whom, or which outlet, it will appeal. Importantly, approach each prospective publisher yourself. Don’t bother trying to get an agent. This is because it is now much more difficult to get accepted by an agent than by an outlet.
Finally, young and emerging writers should think of the long-distance runner, who gave up. Yet just around the corner was the winning post. The message is clear - persist, persist, and persevere. Good luck!
As an Editor, what makes for a good pitch (whether it's for reviews, feature articles, reportage etc)?
A good pitch should be succinct and to the point. The person pitching must know the market, website, publication, whatever. It’s only too obvious in a pitch when the writer has no idea whom they are contacting, and are just wasting everyone’s time.
The main fact about editors is that they work in a field where far more submissions are received than can ever be published or produced. They are also in the position of juggling what they think the public is interested in, since in the end it is mainly about making money and what their employees think the public wants.
Share
Top