Ask Alice: Who is it Answering Your Questions… Who is Ask Alice?

Ask Alice is an online column produced by the #LoveOzYA team, and written by our Secretary, Alice Boer-Endacott, who has published several young adult fantasy novels and a non-fiction essay.

Ask Alice is designed to unpack all aspects of the Australian young adult literary scene, so if you’ve got a question, go ahead and Ask Alice!

Hello LoveOzYAers! This month I’m in the middle of intense PhD revisions (the second-to-last edit). Instead of asking questions about the literary industry, I’ve been asking questions such as ‘why did I think a PhD was a good idea?’ or ‘why is there no more chocolate in the cupboard?’

However, with all this introspection (and rigorous academic critique), I’ve realised how important it is for us to know who’s putting forward claims – especially if we go on to use said claims. To that end, I asked our lovely comms director, Josh, to shoot me five questions he think would help answer this month’s question: Who exactly is asking (and answering) all these questions? 

Who is Alice Boer-Endacott?

Gosh, that’s an existential question – especially given my PhD is about ‘identity.’ I guess Alice Boer-Endacott, or A B Endacott, is a Melbourne girl who’s had her nose in a book, or pen in her hand since she could first start reading.

It’s pretty standard stuff for an author; there are other interesting things about me but my PhD is basically my whole identity right now.

To pre-emptively answer a later question, my PhD explores how the books we read might or might not affect our sense of identity (worldview, how we understand/describe ourselves) through a 15-month investigation into Australian Bookstagram.

This last bit is definitely the hardest slog; I’m learning a lot about how much Alice Boer-Endacott can focus (and what happens when she is really exhausted), but, given I work and teach at a university, it will be worth it to be Dr Alice!

Name a #LoveOzYA book that had a big impact on you as a teenager and LoveOzYA book that’s had a big impact on you recently.

This is a tricky one! I think, rather unoriginally, Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody was the most prominent Australian text across my early teenage years. I’m not sure we’d still call it YA by today’s standards, but back in the day (am I old enough to say this? I like to think not but perhaps I am), there wasn’t a huge amount of Australian YA. Gary Crew is also one of the very influential authors of my childhood literary landscape. Although a lot of his work is for younger readers, it was always so distinctly eerie, that it stuck in my brain.

In terms of authors now, it’s hard to single anyone out. But the authors whose work I love, and who I wish I could have on tap for Ask Alice because I adore their insight so much, in no particular order are: Holden Sheppard, Lili Wilkinson, Ellie Marney (tell me None Shall Sleep 3 is coming soon!!), Margot McGovern, Jodi McAlister, Tobias Madden, and Wai Chim (110% I’ve forgotten someone, so forgive me!).

Describe your writing environment (physical space, favoured tools, preferred tome of day to write, music or no music, etc), and, if you’d like, tell us about your PhD thesis!

Generally, I like to write somewhere with a little bit of background noise, with my notebook which contains the worldbuilding and plot information I’ve already determined alongside for easy access.

It changes, though, depending on how I’ve used my home office space (it’s currently contaminated with PhD vibes!), or where I can easily go to so I can write. I’ve been on a writing hiatus in the interest of getting my PhD done, but I often go into a nearby restaurant I frequent during the day so I can only focus on writing.

I do a lot of my editing by hand – I find it much easier to physically flick back and check something I’ve written rather than scrolling up and down a page. It’s a somewhat painful process, but I think it creates a better outcome!

How and why did you get involved with #LoveOzYA?

I joined the LoveOzYA committee in 2019. During the time I was on the committee, we incorporated (we went from being a grassroots movement to a legally recognised charity!), and instigated our shiny new website!

I’m really proud of those accomplishments. However, this is a total side-step to your question.

The reason I joined the committee was, realistically, because there was a callout for volunteers. However, it was also because, as an author, I wanted to give back to my community (supporting a thriving literary ecosystem), rather than simply ask it for things (i.e buying my books).

What is Ask Alice?

Ask Alice started out three (!!) years ago and was refined in collaboration with the (wonderful) then-comms director, Alexandra Patrikios. Its underpinning ethos arose because I felt there are so many conversations and claims that circulate around the literary community, especially when it comes to material for younger readers, that could benefit from more substantiation. That information is generally out there, but it’s in the minds of specialists or scattered across academic and semi-academic places, or in the occasional article. As a result, it’s not necessarily something which everyone has the time or knowledge to access. Hence: Ask Alice, which tries to access all that specialist information and distil into accessible, informative content.

Bonus question—because I’m watching The Great Muppets Caper as I write this—if you could commission a muppets adaptation of a #LoveOzYa novel, which one would you choose?

So you are aware, I’ve had the Rainbow Connection in my head since I first saw this. This is a tricky one. I think Lili Wilksinson’s A Hunger of Thorns could be a bit of fun! I also feel maybe anything by Tobias Madden (I’m thinking the musical/dancing/performing scenes in particular could be quite joyous).