First Chapters Q&A with Katherine Kovacic

Katherine Kovacic was a veterinarian but preferred training dogs to taking their temperatures. She seized the chance to return to study and earned an MA, followed by a PhD, in Art History. Katherine spends her spare time writing, dancing and teaching other people's dogs to ride skateboards.

In 2012 she was long-listed for the Voiceless Writing Prize and she continues to contribute to academic publications. 

Katherine will be reading from her debut novel The Portrait of Molly Dean.

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?

In this extract art dealer Alex Clayton and her friend, conservator John Porter, are just beginning to realise that Molly Dean’s story is far darker and more complicated than they’d thought.

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

Mysteries with the Melbourne art world as a backdrop. For The Portrait of Molly Dean, I had Molly’s voice in my head for a long time before I found the right frame for her story, and the right person in protagonist Alex Clayton to bring it to life.

Now I’ve discovered Alex has other mysteries to solve, starting with Painting in the Shadows in 2019.

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

The Angry Moon by William Sleator with illustrations by Blair Lent. It’s a retelling of a Tlingit legend and won a Caldecott Honor when it was first published. I remember being a bit scared by it, but bewitched by the images and the amazing story.

I also have to mention the Ant and Bee books (Angela Banner) which were amongst the first things I read. I think my favourite was Ant and Bee Go Shopping. Also Pippi Longstocking (Astrid Lindgren). Can I keep going?

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

Don’t they? Some books answer questions when you least expect it. There might be a beautifully worded sentence, a surprising image, or an unexpected twist, and suddenly as a reader, you have the answer to a question you hadn’t even asked yet. But more often I think books pose the questions we need to answer in our own time.

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

Step away from the keyboard and give my brain something entirely different to focus on. Usually that means walking the dogs or better yet, training a new trick. Generally my subconscious figures it out while I’m busy getting the hounds to follow a scent trail or do something crazy.

6.  What is your favourite word or phrase?

I have a soft spot for colloquialisms – all those wonderful phrases found in the poetry of C.J. Dennis for example – and they’re falling out of use. So amongst my favourites right now are ‘bonzer’ and ‘she’ll be right, mate’.

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

Art historian. I certainly don’t feel as though I’ve earned the mantle of writer/author yet.

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

Wait! You’re not (insert famous author name here)! Who are you?

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

Why this story – why Molly Dean?

It’s a question I hope to be asked because I really wrote the story wanting people to think about Molly. Not only what was taken from her, but the safety issues still faced by women in Australia nearly one hundred years later.

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

Beat Not the Bones by Charlotte Jay. Charlotte Jay was the pen name of Adelaide’s Geraldine Halls, and this atmospheric psychological thriller won the inaugural Edgar Allan Poe award (bestowed by the Mystery Writers of America) in 1954.

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