Video transcript
NSW Premier's Reading Challenge 2025 - SWF author interview (primary) - 05. Joel McKerrow

[intro music]

ATHARV: Hi. My name is Atharv, and I'm a student from Caddes Creek Public School. I'm here today on Cammeraygal land as part of the Sydney Writers' Festival Primary School Day. I'm so excited to be interviewing Joel McKerrow for the NSW Premier's Reading Challenge. Hi, Joel.

JOEL MCKERROW: Hello.

ATHARV: How are you today?

JOEL MCKERROW: I'm good. I'm wonderful. How are you, mate?

ATHARV: I'm really good.

JOEL MCKERROW: Excellent.

ATHARV: OK, so can I please ask you a few questions?

JOEL MCKERROW: You can ask me as many questions as you like.

ATHARV: OK. Your latest book is called 'The Great Chocolate Caper', and it's about a group of students-- yes, exactly, that one-- and it's a group of students who don't really like each other, but they are brought together by their shared love of chocolate. Can you tell us a little more about this book?

JOEL MCKERROW: I absolutely can. Yes. So these students, right? There's 5 of them, and they do not like each other as you said though this character here, Marlie Balooby, she has a little bit of a crush on Andy McGee. They even have one of those gross, weird, slightly romantic moments. I know you don't really want that in a book, but it's in there.

But then what's actually happening, they discover this sinister plot at their school. They have to break into their school to steal the fundraising chocolate that the Year 12s are using to fundraise for their dance, their formal at the end of the year. They have to steal it, or the entire world will be annihilated.

ATHARV: How?

JOEL MCKERROW: How? I can't tell you how! You have to read the book. If I told you how, it's like one of those plot twists that when they figure it out, when they find out what's happening, you'll just be like, God, I can't believe that that's what's happening. It's like that. So I can't give away the twist, my goodness. Spoiler alert.

ATHARV: Nobody likes spoilers.

JOEL MCKERROW: Nobody likes spoilers. That's true. That's true.

ATHARV: OK, second question.

JOEL MCKERROW: Yeah.

ATHARV: Your next book is part of the same series, but it focuses on robots instead of chocolate. Will it contain the same misfit crew of students?

JOEL MCKERROW: It does contain exactly the same 5, my 5 heisters. They go from their country town. They actually come right here to Sydney. They are committing a heist in Sydney, so they have to break into--

I can't tell you that either. They have to break into some place in Sydney because you've got to discover. They have to discover where they've got to break into, and then they break into it using the-- well, they're here also for the National Robot Battle Championships.

Do you know 'Battlebots'? Have you watched 'Battlebots' on TV? The little robots fighting each other, they have to use robots to break into-- to commit a heist, to steal something that-- I'm not allowed to tell you what it is-- but they have to steal something. And at the end of this book, if you think the first book here, the twist in this book is like [imitating explosion]. The twist in the second book literally will blow your mind.

ATHARV: I can't wait.

JOEL MCKERROW: Your mind will pop off the top of your head. That's what will happen. It will explode and will be covered in blood and brain. And it'll be disgusting, but it'll be really good.

ATHARV: Oh, wow. I actually can't wait.

[Joel laughs]

Your first book for younger readers was 'Urban Legend Hunters: The Dreaded Mr Snipe', which is a graphic novel. Yeah, that one. What gave you the urge to create this series?

JOEL MCKERROW: Yes, this is a graphic novel series about this cranky old man that lives next door to the school campsite. And rumour has it that he-- if your ball gets kicked over the fence, he comes out with a samurai sword, and he cuts the ball in half. And he takes the kid's ball. I know, very scary, right? And should the urban legend be true, what do you think happens if you jump over the fence?

ATHARV: You get slashed into bits.

JOEL MCKERROW: You get sliced and diced, never to be heard from again if the urban legend-- it's the ghost story that's being told at the school campfire. And so, of course, this girl here, she kicks a ball over that fence the next day, and then the crazy antics ensue as they try to discover if this cranky old man is actually a mons-- a samurai sword-wielding monster.

But this actually came out of my own life, not that I've met samurai sword-wielding, cranky monsters, but when I grew up, my backyard, there was a fence there. Beyond that fence was the yard. This is the dreaded Mr Snipe. Beyond that fence was the dreaded Mr Patterson. He was my cranky old neighbour.

We would dare each other, us kids, my siblings and I, who was going to jump across and get the ball if we kicked it over the fence, right? Because he would come out if he saw us and he'd be like, get out of my garden, yelling his head off at us. Incredibly scary. So I took that little bit of inspiration, and out of that came 'Urban Legend Hunters: The Dreaded Mr Snipe'.

ATHARV: I've got goosebumps right now.

JOEL MCKERROW: You've got goosebumps now. [laughs] It's pretty-- well, it's spooky and it's funny and it's adventurous and it's also full of poetry, but it doesn't have a single poem in it.

ATHARV: I saw the poetry.

JOEL MCKERROW: You saw the poetry in it? Yeah.

ATHARV: But it's not poems.

JOEL MCKERROW: So it's full of-- yeah, it's not poems, but it's full of poetry. So it's full of alliteration and rhyming and assonance and rhythm and all these things that we use as poets because I'm a poet as well. It's in this book, too.

ATHARV: What was it like writing a graphic novel knowing that the characters were brought to life by somebody else?

JOEL MCKERROW: Oh, that was amazing. That was one of my favourite parts about it because I-- so when I wrote it, it almost looks like a script for a movie when I write it. I have the dialogue written as Bad Boris, one of the characters says this and Samantha Small says this.

And then to see Wayne Bryant is the illustrator on this one, he was amazing. He took it and crafted these characters. To see them come back was really special. I was like, whoa, they look-- it just took what I had written and made it come alive in really beautiful ways. I loved doing this as a graphic novel.

ATHARV: I saw the illustrations. They were--

JOEL MCKERROW: They're cool, and--

ATHARV: Outstanding.

JOEL MCKERROW: Oh, he's a brilliant illustrator. He's amazing. I really loved working with him, yeah.

ATHARV: The next question I have for you is probably the hardest question I've ever asked.

JOEL MCKERROW: Whoa! I'm a little bit scared.

ATHARV: What book are you most proud of?

JOEL MCKERROW: Oh, that is a hard one. Which book am I most proud of? I probably am most proud of this 'Heist' series, right? So, because a heist is really complicated. There's so much that goes into it, all these things. I reckon 100 different threads, 200, 300, 4-- lots and lots of different threads that come into how they actually break into the school and get into the lower secret basement level of the school. But then I've got to somehow write in all the threads throughout, so this. And then there's the second, and then the third will be coming out, too.

ATHARV: Oh, what?

JOEL MCKERROW: So it's a trilogy, yeah. There's 3 books in the series. It begins with this one, and each one-- like in this one, there's 1 heist. In the second one, there's 2 heists. In the third one, they have to do 7 heists in 7 days. So I'm really proud of this series because it just-- and it just goes exponentially planetarily crazily amazing.

ATHARV: I am anticipating the second and third ones so much right now after hearing this.

JOEL MCKERROW: Thanks, mate. I am, too. I'm really excited.

ATHARV: What inspired you to start writing professionally as an author?

JOEL MCKERROW: What inspired me? So I have been a poet for many, many years, was-- so before, and up until a few years ago, I was really focused on my poetry. I was a performance poet. So I would write poetry to get up and then perform it.

So I had poetry books, and I had poetry albums with my band. And I loved writing, and I loved performing. And then, I-- well, I have kids, not then I have kids, but I have kids. I have-- at the moment, they are 9 and 11.

And as I was reading my poetry to my kids, they love it and that kind of thing. Then I started writing some stories, and they really loved it. And I started writing stories for them, especially over COVID. You know those years when we were all stuck at home? I was stuck at home with my kids, and so I started writing stories.

And the stories that I wrote they loved. So I really continued to write. I'm kind of inspired by how much they loved it. I was like, oh, I'm going to start writing stories. So I really started writing stories during COVID like fiction stories, books like this. And then since then, it's happened again and again and again and again.

ATHARV: Do you have some useful tips for writers like me who want to take our writing to another level?

JOEL MCKERROW: I sure do. Absolutely. Here's a tip for you. When I write, one of the things I think that gets happen-- that happens especially for primary school kids but especially as well for high school kids and for adults is we come to the blank piece of paper, and we're like, OK, I'm going to write something. And then we sit there going hmm. Ah, what should I write about?

Um-- maybe I could-- oh, no, that won't be very good. And maybe-- oh, no, that'll suck, too. Oh, this is hard. I don't know what to write about.

We get stuck in our editing brain very quickly. So what I always say to people is the secret to writing a good poem-- the secret to writing a good story is to stop trying to write good poetry, to stop trying to write a good story, to just allow whatever wants to come out as the first draft. And then we can take it-- if we've got something to work with, if we've got all this writing that we've done, that's-- there's good stuff in there. There's bad stuff in there. There's weird tangents, there's all this stuff, but it's a bad first draft.

Now we have work that we can take and edit and craft and work on to make it into something that's good. But to do that, I think we have to allow ourselves to just write whatever wants to come out. So instead of trying to write good poetry, we just write whatever's there. Instead of thinking in our head trying to figure out-- what I always say to people is don't think in your head. Think on the page. Think on the page. And as you think on the page, then you're going to find your ideas. Your creativity will begin to flow. So that would be my tip.

ATHARV: That is a really good tip honestly. What books would you recommend to aspiring young readers like me?

JOEL MCKERROW: What books, as in not my own books, but other people's books?

ATHARV: Like-- Yeah, any book.

JOEL MCKERROW: Any book, oh, to aspiring young readers like-- there's so many different series. We've just been hanging out with Jacqui Harvey today. She has amazing stories, really amazing stories. And with Katrina Nannestad today, she also has amazing stories.

I have other wonderful friends. Ashleigh Barton is a Sydney-based author. She wrote a book called 'How to Sail to Somewhere'. If you want a good book, I just finished reading this book with my 9-year-old daughter, and we loved it. My goodness, it was so good.

So 'How to Sail to Somewhere'. I also love funny stuff like Matt Stanton's. Do you know Matt Stanton 'Funny Kid'?

ATHARV: Oh yes, I've read it a lot.

JOEL MCKERROW: I love-- yeah, I love 'Funny Kid'. I love graphic novels like 'Amulet'. And-- I mean, there's so many different books. How do you decide on a few? I can't do it.

ATHARV: That's why I always spend an hour in the library.

JOEL MCKERROW: That's what-- well, that hour in the library is good. Yeah.

ATHARV: Something I learned about you while getting ready for this and you've mentioned it a lot of times is that you're a poet.

JOEL MCKERROW: I am a poet. Yeah.

ATHARV: Yeah. Slam poetry is one of your favourite things to do. So may I ask why is poetry so important to you?

JOEL MCKERROW: Oh, what a great question. Really good question. Poetry is important to me because I feel like with my poetry, I get to take all the stuff that's rumbling around inside me, in my head, in my heart, in my gut, not physically in my guts because that's gross. But all the thoughts and ideas and feelings and things that's happening in my life and things that I'm stressed about and worried about, I feel like with my poetry, I actually get to let it out of me and onto the page.

So I write poetry about my experiences, about the things that I'm struggling with. And it's like as I do it, it's like my life becomes easier to live. I think if I hadn't-- I just-- I can't even think about the kind of person I'd be if I hadn't found poetry.

Poetry for me has been this lifeline to run to, this thing that's helped me-- often I think kids when we're in school and high school, we're like, oh, poetry is the thing we've got to do in English class. No way. Poetry is like something that for me has saved my life over and over and over again. It gives me a way to take all the churning around that we all feel.

Sometimes you might even feel that. Do you reckon? Occasionally. A bit stressed, a bit anxious, a bit sad, a bit frustrated to get it out on the page. And it really helps me. Yeah.

ATHARV: Yeah. Thank you so much for letting me interview you today, Joel. It's been amazing.

JOEL MCKERROW: Oh, yeah. You have been one of the best interviewers I've ever experienced. You've been great. Thank you.

ATHARV: Thank you.

JOEL MCKERROW: Well done.

ATHARV: It's been amazing talking with you. I hope everybody watching out there enjoys your graphic novels and poems as much as I do while they work to complete the Premier's Reading Challenge.

JOEL MCKERROW: I hope so too. Totally. Thank you so much, mate. Give me five. Well done. That was great.