First Chapters Q&A with author John Tesarsch

John Tesarsch is a writer and barrister.  He used to be a professional cellist based in Vienna, but had to give up music due to a debilitating allergy to the rosin used on cello bows. He returned to Melbourne to study Law and was then diagnosed with tongue cancer and spent a year undergoing extensive treatments.  

He is the author of the acclaimed novels The Philanthropist and The Last Will and Testament of Henry Hoffman and will be reading from Dinner With the Dissidents at First Chapters on Friday 7 September.

1. Brunswick Bound has asked you to read a chapter from your published work.  Tell us what we can expect from the chapter you have chosen?

Dinner with the Dissidents is the story of Leonid Krasnov, an aspiring young writer who is persuaded by the KGB to spy on the great novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn, with the promise that if he agrees, Leonid will become a literary star. In the first chapter, which I will read, Leonid meets a mysterious publisher, Boris Ivanov, who draws him into a devious plot. 

2. How would you describe the kind of books that you write?

I would prefer my books not to be pigeonholed in any genre. If forced to say anything, though, I would say literary fiction (whatever that may be).

3. What was the first book that you read (or had read to you) that left an impression on you?

A collection of Dr Seuss books that I still treasure. Especially I Had Trouble in Getting toSolla Sollew.

4. Do you believe that books should answer life’s big questions?

I believe that fiction should raise rather than answer questions.

5. What’s your go-to solution for writer’s block?

Due to a distinct lack of time, luckily this has not been an affliction that I have suffered, at least not yet! 

6.  What is your favourite word or phrase?

Plantagenet – what a sonorous word! 

7. What do you put down as your occupation when asked?

Barrister and/or writer, as the occasion (and propriety) demands.

8. What is the question that you hope never to be asked in an author Q&A?

I’m not ever going to give that away!

9. What question do you hope you will be asked and why?

Anything to do with the book itself rather than me!

10. Which book that you have read do you think should be better known or more widely read?

Bruce Chatwin’s In Patagonia. I know he is well known, but I rate him so highly that I think he should be even more widely read.

Find out more about First Chapters on the Brunswick Bound website.  Bookings via Eventbrite.