I recently had the pleasure of writing a guest blog for the fine folks at Aussie Reviews. I chose to write about the real life poets who inspired the creation of the Unknown Digger in my novel Where the Line Breaks.
When I started researching Australian war poets for my book, I quickly realised I would have to invent my own poet if I wanted to have the freedom to tell the story I had in mind. That doesn’t mean that my Unknown Digger wasn’t inspired by real life Australian war poets – in fact, I wouldn’t have been able to write the book without the works of two men in particular.
The two biggest real life influences on my novel were Leon Gellert, and C. J. Dennis. Read the full blog at aussiereviews.com or by clicking here, to find out more about these remarkable men, and a few others who helped along the way.
Have a read of the blog, and who knows, maybe you’ll be inspired to read a few lines of Australian or New Zealand war poetry yourself this Anzac Day.
Michael Burrows 