Holden Sheppard talks to David Whish-Wilson about his hard-hitting new crime novel True West and what it says about our right-wing past and political present
David Whish-Wilson is an award-winning crime writer whose latest book, True West, is out this month.
In this podcast, David says seeing the rise of populism and nationalist right-wing movements around the world made him want to reflect on Australia’s long history of nationalist movements in True West. ‘I hadn’t seen anyone else writing about Perth’s late-80s Neo-Nazi scene … I’ve spoken to many Asian Australians over the years and they often talk about that as a particularly unpleasant time to be a Western Australian … I really wanted a mini-exploration of that period to reference what’s happening around the world now.’
David says though right-wing groups may have dropped the Nazi symbology and goosestepping for more mainstream marketing campaigns, it doesn’t mean right-wing ideology is a thing of the past. ‘What’s happening now seems to be a little bit more dangerous because the right wing worldwide has tried to make it seem a bit more palatable.’
To find out more about this fascinating subject and more, listen to the podcast below or you can subscribe to the Fremantle Press podcast on iTunes, Google Play, SoundCloud or your favourite podcast app. Previous episodes are also available on the Fremantle Press Podcast page.
Music: ‘Letter to a Daughter of St George’, from the Meat Lunch EP: Songs from Floaters. Written by Alan Fyfe. Performed by Trevor Bentley (guitar and vocals – @trevormb) and Chris Parkinson (harmonica). Produced by Blake Carnaby of Nuglife studios with impresario work by Benjamin P. Newton.
Mastered and edited by: Aidan d’Adhemar
Producer: Claire Miller