Welcome to the first edition of our Creative Series. Hosted by the insta-famous and former RSPCA rescue chihuahua Honey Del Rey, this is an exploration of creatives and artists who use animals as the inspiration and motivation behind their work.
Our inaugural video features acclaimed writer Laura Jean McKay. Honey Del Rey chats (in her most formal interviewing voice) with Laura about her new book, The Animals in that Country. Laura is a creative writing lecturer at Massey University and has a PhD in Literary Animal Studies from The University of Melbourne. She has spent years researching, observing and exploring animals in literary texts and real life to create this masterpiece.
In an astonishing twist of fate, Laura’s novel, The Animals in that Country, is actually about a global pandemic. A flu that plagues the world, leaving those it infects with a supernatural ability to understand and communicate with other animals.
It follows rough-as-guts Jean and her companion, Sue the dingo, as they hit the road to explore this new world where humans and animals share the same language. Laura’s writing imagines the complexity of animals’ personalities and the colourful inner lives they might lead. If you’ve ever wanted to know what truly goes on inside the head your dog or cat, this novel is for you.
The Animals in that Country asks the question: how would our relationship with animals and how we treat them change if we could truly understand what they are saying?
You can purchase Laura’s book at your local book shop or online retailer. You can also purchase the audiobook read by Laura herself! For more information visit Scribe.
