Q&A with Tylissa Elisara, debut children's author!

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​Tylissa Elisara is a children's social worker who lives and works in Meanjin (Brisbane) with her husband and children. She descends from the Narungga, Kaurna and Adnyamathanha people of South Australia and was born and raised on Mamu Country in Innisfail, Queensland - a heritage, alongside her Irish ancestry, that she proudly regards as a long legacy of storytelling. Tylissa is studying a Master of Writing, Editing and Publishing at the University of Queensland. Wurrtoo is her first novel.

1. Tylissa, your debut children's novel 'Wurrtoo: The Wombat Who Fell in Love with the Sky' has just been released and is making great buzz and having awesome responses already! It was written as part of the fabulous black&write! program too. Can you share how the story first originated for you and what was your process of writing it from manuscript to published book? 

Thanks, Brenton! Leading up to the release, I was so nervous, practically making myself sick. However, the response from the public (especially the response from my home town of Innisfail) has been incredible. 

Unfortunately, the whole idea behind Wurrtoo stemmed from a distressing incident of racism directed at my son when he was only two years old. Not long after this incident, I found myself juggling motherhood, university, and multiple part-time jobs, which meant our time together was limited, but we always had our bedtime stories at the end of the long days. 

Yet, many of the classic tales we enjoyed reading were steeped in outdated views that didn't sit right with me, especially given my son's background. So, I took matters into my own hands and wrote our own story. I’d always wanted to be an author and thought that this particular story would stay between my son and me and double as a practice exercise to see if I could write a book that I might hope to have published. But my son's enthusiasm for the story pushed me to share it. 

Entering it into a competition felt like a shot in the dark, but still, to my complete surprise, it won! The support I received afterwards, particularly from the black&write! fellowship was transformative. They helped refine the story into something tangible. Now, seeing it all come together with Dylan Finney's gorgeous illustrations and the teams’ hard work at black&write! and Hachette—it's truly a collaborative effort, a beautiful book we all had a hand in creating.

2. Do you have a favourite chapter or moment or scene from 'Wurrtoo'? 

I have multiple scenes that are my favourites. I particularly love the teachable moments about racism, colourism and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing and being. So, I am incredibly excited that more children can read and learn about these critical topics in the safe environment that the story hopefully facilitates. I also love the scene where Wurrtoo describes why he loves the sky after being alone in his burrow for so long. This aspect is super personal to me because, as a teen mother, I would receive a lot of negative comments from people in public when I was just out and about enjoying my regular day. 

I think the experience with my son was my final straw (we were only getting him a lolly at the servo), as afterwards, I developed social anxiety and feared going outside. There were many times when I would break into a sweat at the supermarket and was so anxious to get out of there that I left my groceries at the checkout multiple times! The nerves made me so clumsy that I even rolled my ankle one time not long after coming home when I realised, I'd left my phone at my son's hip hop dance practice as well as my shopping at the supermarket and frantically tried to race back to my car to retrieve them - I was a mess! I eventually stayed home as much as possible, but when I finally did go outside, I was always so blown away by how beautiful the sky was after looking at just my ceiling and four walls for days. So, yes, that scene is definitely one of my favourites!

3. Did you dream of being a writer since you were a child? What would your child-self say to you now? 

Yes! I started reading chapter books after a very traumatic series of events when I was six/seven years old. The first book I read was The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton, and the contents completely transformed my imagination, which acted as a form of escapism for me. We were living at my grandmother's house at the time, and instead of worrying about what had happened or how much life had changed, I was too busy hunting for fairies in her backyard and having tea parties in the hope that one of them might one day join me. Luckily, the school I transferred to encouraged creative writing in our regular sessions. I received so much encouragement from my teachers through praise, awards and conversations with my mother, who had also encouraged me to become an author since. I think my childhood self would be so happy that her dreams came true and would thank me for not forgetting her.

4. Is there one thing, or a few things, you know now about the writing/publishing world that you didn't know at the beginning of the process? 

I think that it's okay not to be the perfect writer or editor if you want to get a story out there (or else why would we have our wonderful editorial teams ). And we all have a story inside of us!

I had to do a bridging course to get into university because I was a high school dropout, and as I was disengaged from school for years before dropping out, I failed the first test to even get into the bridging course. I had to buy a book about literacy and used to go online to children's maths websites to relearn everything I had lost. I didn't even know the difference between the three theres/theirs/they'res at 18 years old (so for someone who is now a published author and almost finished a master's in writing, editing and publishing, there's hope for us all)! 

5. Can you share if there's anything in the pipeline? What is next for you? 

​I currently work full-time in the head office of the Department of Child Safety. I absolutely love my career as I get to work on reframing the department's relationship with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. I am also still studying for my master's degree and have three children, so I unfortunately don't have much time set aside to write. However, I hope to write my daughters a book each and would love to one day commence a PhD in creative writing where I could hopefully work on another novel.

6. To reflect on an exciting moment, tell us about when you first found out your book was going to be published? 

Oh my goodness, the first time I discovered that the book may get published was when I received the call from the lovely Grace Lucas-Pennington from black&write!! I was sitting in the food court in Cairns Central with my husband, my son, who was ten by then, and my oldest daughter, who was two. I wasn't expecting to win, so I was a bundle of nerves when I realised the context of the conversation unfolding and started shaking, crying and hyperventilating uncontrollably. The prize money was also life-changing at that point! The validation of my dreams to become a writer was everything, and the overall news was a massive dose of hope, which I really needed to get me through an incredibly challenging year.

Visit Tylissa on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/tylelisara/
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Wurrtoo: The Wombat Who Fell in Love with the Sky is published by Hachette and available now. Visit this website to read more about the book: www.hachette.com.au/tylissa-elisara-dylan-finney/wurrtoo-the-wombat-who-fell-in-love-with-the-sky