Benjamin Law chats with Jessica Au about his new book,

*Tell us about the writing process for *Gaysia – what were the best (or worst) parts of your travels? **

Before this book, I’d never been to Myanmar, China, India or Indonesia before, and each of those countries blew my mind in unexpected ways. Some of my fondest experiences didn’t actually end up in the book, like the time I weirdly found myself giving sex education lessons to stunned men in Yangon, and the other time my friend fell into an open sewer. (Memories!) All of it was damn fun, but the worst part—besides having to repeatedly abandon my boyfriend, like the lousy jerk I am—was all the delightful illnesses I contracted while writing this book. Scalp-to-toe heat rash in Yangon; whooping cough in Tokyo. And you just haven’t lived until you’ve emptied your gastro-ridden guts into a Mumbai public toilet, let me tell you. It is thrilling.

Tell us about the first time you ever saw one of your books in a bookshop.

My first time would have been seeing The Family Law at Avid Reader in Brisbane’s West End. That place is my alma mater and second home, because I used to work there for five years, alongside other alumni (Anna Krien, Kris Olsson) and current staff members (Christopher Currie, Krissy Kneen, Trent Jamieson). It’s a surreal moment, seeing your book in a shop. I’m never going to have kids, but I imagine it’s similar to what it’s like seeing your child perform in a school play for the first time: equal parts swollen pride and searing horror that things might suddenly go wrong.

Are there any books you loved as a kid or teenager that you cringe to remember now?

Can I be honest? Despite being a super-bookish kid (Roald Dahl, Paul Jennings, Gillian Rubenstein), books really fell by the wayside during my teen years. Magazines replaced them in a big way: Rolling Stone, The Face, Q, HQ, Juice, Spin, Mojo. They were all great and I regret nothing, damn you all for judging me.

If you could choose to have written any book in history, what would it be, and why?

The Bible. I reckon it would have been fun writing Revelations, just making up wild apocalyptic shit as I went along. I mean, have you read it? It’s nuts.

What is your most proud book-giving moment? Be it a birthday present, a gift to a friend or a fellow author?

The loveliest thing in the world for a writer is to finish a book and write a dedication. “Here you go, I wrote this whole goddamn beast for you.”

Gaysia