WRITER and poet Cameron Hindrum was committed to having his first book published while he was 40 years old.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
He missed the mark by just two weeks but the Riverside High School English teacher and Tasmanian Poetry Festival organiser is thrilled that his labour of love is finally complete.
Mr Hindrum launched his novella, The Blue Cathedral, at Fullers Bookshop in Launceston last night.
``It's taken quite a long time to come together, I started writing it maybe eight or nine years ago,'' Mr Hindrum said.
``And it's one of the things that got interrupted by children coming along. I had a couple of different jobs and at one point, I thought it was finished but I came back to it and realised it wasn't finished.
``So it's probably not the best example of how to go about writing a novel but it worked in the end.''
The book follows two young people, one a troubled boy who is dealing with family turmoil and the other a hitch-hiking protester, at a coming-of-age moment set at the height of the Franklin River Dam blockade in 1983.
Not a reflection on his own life, Mr Hindrum said it was partly set at this time because his policeman father recounted many stories to him when he was a boy.
Mr Hindrum said his next project was to publish a book of poems that he hoped to complete in a few months.
