Just a handful of years ago, a book about a queer Indigenous teenager was almost impossible to find on bookshelves in Australia.
Gary Lonesborough remembers a time growing up when he couldn’t identify himself in any of the books he was reading.
The Yuin writer from Bega in NSW is now an accomplished young adult (YA) author with his third book on the way, however as a teenager he can vividly recall almost giving up on his love of books.
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“Storytelling has always been a part of me, ever since I was a little kid,” Lonesborough tells 9Honey.
“It does feel like it was kind of a gift from my ancestors, that’s how Aboriginal stories and culture was passed down: telling stories.”
When Lonesborough was grappling with his own sexuality aged 12, he says finding a book that featured someone like him would have been utterly life-changing.
It was a story he was “really wanting to read”, but it didn’t really exist. So, he stopped reading.
Books play an important role in self-identity and representation. If you see your own struggles mirrored in a fictional character, it can make you feel less alone in the world.
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“If I could have walked into my school library and saw a book like The Boy From Mish, I definitely feel like that would have made me feel less alone,” he says.
“It took me so long to come to that stage of acceptance and self-love. And it wasn’t really until 2021 that I realised I wasn’t the one with the problem.”
Lonesborough solved this “problem” for other young queer Aboriginal readers when he wrote and published The Boy From Mish, which follows a teenage boy named Jackson finding the courage to explore who he really is.
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His skilled penmanship has allowed characters like Jackson to thrive, have a voice and be celebrated by young readers.
He even recalls several occasions queer and Indigenous children have told him how much his books meant to them.
“I’ve had a couple of different instances where a teenage boy will message me on Instagram to tell me the book helped him come out and feel comfortable with who he is,” Lonesborough says.
“I was at a writer’s festival and a young girl passed me a letter at the signing table, a really beautiful letter about how it meant to her to see a queer writer proud of who they were, writing books about their experiences.”
Lonesborough adds: “That’s why books are so special, because a reader can pick up a book and take something from the story that [may not be] the writer’s intention, but it helps them in a way.”
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Lonesborough’s fourth book, I’m Not Really Here, is set to be published in September 2024.
It’s billed as a coming-of-age queer romance about Jonah, an Indigenous teen who just moved to a country town. Jonah falls in love, but he’s also dealing with the recent loss of his mother.
Lonesborough says Jonah’s story is the one he resonated with the most out of all his books. “Jonah, in a lot of ways, is the most personal character I have written,” he admits. “I lost my mum when I was 18.”
“He is a character that’s much closer to my heart than my other characters.”
I’m Not Really Here, by Gary Lonesborough, will be published on September 3, 2024 via Allen and Unwin.