First Chapters Q&A with Anna Snoekstra

Anna Snoekstra writes novels, teaches storytelling at RMIT University and co-ordinates the Write Club at 100 Story Building.  Her non-fiction has appeared in The Guardian, Filmme Fatales and she is a regular contributor to Lindsay.  Her first novel Only Daughter was released in 2016, and is currently in the works to be turned into a feature film with Universal Pictures.  Her second, the acclaimed Little Secrets, was released in 2017.  In 2018, Anna released her first YA novel, Mercy Point, and the twisty and suspenseful novel, The Spite Game.

Anna will be reading from The Spite Game at First Chapters on Friday 5 July. 

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

I’m going to read from my most recent novel The Spite Game, which is a story about lust, revenge and girlhood. Some of my favourite topics to write about!

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

I write creepy psychological thrillers from the point of view of young women. These women do all sorts of horrible things that I would never ever do myself, promise.

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

For a few months I was obsessed with Red Sky in The Morning, by Elizabeth Laird. I think I was about twelve and I read and re-read it many times. It’s an incredible depressing book, but for some reason I felt a huge connection to it.

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

No way! Neat answers are never fun. It’s all about the way the novel plays with the question.

5.      Do you have any writing quirks?

I like to sit with my feet up on the chair, never on the ground. Maybe this is why I always have such a sore back.

6.      What is your favourite word or phrase?

How could I ever pick!

7. What have you found most surprising about publishing a book?

    How long the gap is between finishing the novel and it being out on the shelves. It can be eighteen months, 

    which wasn’t something I had really considered.

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

     If I tell you then you might ask me! Honestly, the questions that are the most difficult are always ones I’d

     never even considered. For example, my last novel, Little Secrets, touched on police brutality. I was     

     asked on stage if I ever worried about retribution.

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

     I’d love to be asked about the endings of the books. It’s something that never is talked about in author 

    Q&A’s for obvious reasons. But it would be so much fun to discuss! Especially with The Spite Game.

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

Australian horror writer Kaaron Warren is fantastic!  Her last novel, The Grief Hole, was so disturbing.  I loved it!

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