‘It gets harder’: Tim Winton on writing (From the Archives)

The author of Cloudstreet offers insights into the writing life and reflects on the differences between writing for the page and the stage.

Aspiring writers struggling to complete their first novel or screenplay can take cold comfort from the words of Tim Winton, who says writing remains a struggle for him; it doesn’t get any easier with experience or age.

‘I think it gets harder and I can’t really account for that,’ said Winton, the multi-award winning author of Cloudstreet, Dirt Music and numerous other novels, short stories, children’s books and essays.

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Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts