Australian author Trent Dalton on the power of storytelling

Trent Dalton is perhaps one of Australia’s most exciting writers right now. His journey from journalist to accomplished author was swift, but those closest to him would have probably always seen the signs. On his return to New Zealand earlier this year, he tells me of the power of storytelling, learning the right time to let go of that story, or to pass it on to new hands, and how he found his inspiration again.

Trent Dalton is larger than life, and I love it. Even across a dodgy internet line from two corners of the southern hemisphere, his energy is absolutely infectious. We meet over Zoom in the weeks before this year’s Auckland Writers Festival, and he’d made the unorthodox decision to return for a second year in a row. He loved it so much last year, we just couldn’t keep him away. This time, he’s brought a special surprise for New Zealand audiences—his sold-outstage show Love Stories (yes, based on the book) is coming to Auckland later this year.

With a raft of whimsical and deeply gripping titles to his name, the former journalist is perhaps best recognised for his debut novel, Boy Swallows Universe, turned into a Netflix show less than two years ago. Amid its surrealist, magical world, it tells a haunting story of drugs, violence, and ultimately, love. Trent has always been incredibly open—this story was his story. He was the boy in the suburbs finding hidden rooms and wads of cash in dressing gowns. It’s not a world he imagined; it’s one he knew intimately. This is the power of storytelling. Trent’s ethos is about finding magic in the hardest moments. If you’ve read any of his work, you’ll know that this is something he does so poignantly.‘I look back on my childhood and see it as magical, even though I was in places like Logan,’ he says, laughing.‘I was always looking for small details and small beauties inside otherwise dark stories.’

At the start of 2024, Boy Swallows Universe landed on Netflix. I expected Trent to be nonchalant about the adaptation, but he wasn’t. Quite the opposite. ‘That was the biggest leap of faith I had taken,’ he tells me. ‘That story had gone to a very powerful place—that’s almost sacred.’He didn’t want it to be another bogan Australia trope, mocking working-class families. The worries didn’t fully dissipate until the director called him out of the blue. ‘Hesaid, “I know what this story is about—it’s love, and howyou got through with the love of five people,” and that justgave me chills.’ And in the end, the show—with its stellar cast and fantastical cinematography—stayed true. It also gave Trent the chance to rewrite a childhood dream. ‘All I ever wanted was my family,’ he says. ‘I wanted my dad to fall back in love with my mum.’ As another child from two homes, I know that feeling well. When Trent passed over his story, those dreams of a dinner table reunion could finally come true. ‘The whole freakingshow ended with that dream,’ he says. On a second watch, those final scenes hit even harder.

Of all the writers I’ve met, I’ve never come across someone so enthusiastic about their craft. Trent says he stumbled into this world, but it’s clear he was meant for it. Whether it’s his background in journalism or innate curiosity, he was born to tell these stories. When it came time to write again, Trent didn’t try to reinvent himself. Instead of chasing something new, he returned to familiar territory with All Our Shimmering Skies and Lola In The Mirror. ‘It’s just the same themes... kids trying to hold onto the light,’ he says. ‘In all those books, you can absolutely see Eli Bell in Molly Hook, and Molly Hook in Lola.’ Though he tries to convince people otherwise, his work is deeply autobiographical. ‘It’s just me still processing that stuff,’ he admits.‘Because it’s healthy—because for me the alternative is whiskey, bourbon, Red Rooster chips, and that’s just no good for you.’And while it is surely a healthier diet than some of our greatest literary talents, I think the world is a much better place when Trent Dalton pours his soul out onto the page. How lucky are we, his readers, for that?

What comes next is even more exciting. His next novel, Gravity Let Me Go, leaves behind his beloved child narrators and steps into the messiness of adulthood. ‘I want to talk about things I know as an adult—marriage, the Australian suburbs,’ he shares. ‘So I’ve written this book that’s a marriage story buried inside a murder mystery.’ Due to launch later this year, it explores suburban unrest throughTrent’s signature magical realism. This spring also sees the global debut of Love Stories (the play, not the book) at Auckland’s The Civic. The book came from a simple but wild idea: Trent sat on a Brisbane street corner with a desk and a typewriter for two months, asking strangers to tell him a love story. The result was part journalism, part poetic meditation—a work that’s hopeful, curious, and deeply human. And at its core is a writer who, in spite of everything—or perhaps because of it—still believes in love.