Aussie launches his third novel
Author uses 'bits and pieces' of own life for book
Dave Willis, The Delta Optimist
Published: Saturday, May 31, 2008Author Darren Groth has come a long way.
In the early 1990s at the beginning of his career he was writing short stories the old-fashioned way - by longhand.
"I was working with basically my imagination and a pencil. It didn't feel contrived. It didn't feel like I was working to do it. It was just what I did," he says.
Darren Groth, from Brisbane, Australia, now lives in Ladner. He's just released a new novel.
photo by Brett Beadle
Groth has a book-signing event today in Ladner for his new novel, The Umbilical Word.
"People don't need to be scared of starting. Because once you start, you never know where it's going to take you and I'm living proof of that," he says.
The author says he's happy with the way the book, his third, turned out.
"It took a couple years to write and went through a few different incarnations along the way."
The novel is about a married couple that has had three failed pregnancies but is trying again. The husband, Adam O'Doherty, writes an e-mail to his unborn child to try and get some sort of control over the circumstances. He miraculously gets a reply and begins a sixth-month correspondence until one day, the return e-mails cease.
It taps into Groth's own experiences in his marriage but there's obviously a lot of stuff in the book that's just imagined.
"People have asked me about this story, [about] how close is this to yourself and your wife's experience and I say, 'Well, there's bits and pieces.'"
Groth, who has lived in Ladner for a year, is married and has six-year-old twins.
He's originally from Brisbane, Australia.
His first two novels, MVP - Most Valuable Potential and The Procrastinator, achieved critical acclaim in the Land Down Under. MVP - Most Valuable Potential was shortlisted in Australia's richest literary awards, the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, and was also selected to the prestigious Books From Our Backyard: 100 Must-Read Books from Queensland list.
A former teacher, Groth says he couldn't imagine not writing.
"There may come a day where that may not be the case, but to me, it's what I do."
Groth has two book-signing events today:
- Black Bond Books, 5251 Ladner Trunk Rd., Ladner, 11 a.m. to noon
- Black Bond Books, 214-5300 No. 3 Rd., Richmond, 2 to 3 p.m.
The Umbilical Word is also available at www.darrengroth.com or www.amazon.com.