Michael Earp is an established writer and editor, but their journey to this point was unconventional, beginning with a present.
“A picture book I was given for my 18th birthday by one of my best friends was sort of life-changing,” Earp said.
“My best friend gave me The Red Tree by Shaun Tan and when I unwrapped it, my first thought was why are you giving me a picture book?
“But then I read it, and it just moved me profoundly. It was the exact right book at the exact right time.”
It gave them an idea of how impactful children's literature can be, leading them to study early childhood education.
“It was really just a means to learn all of those important developmental type milestones to help inform my writing,” Earp said.
“I decided that I wasn't really cut out for teaching anyhow, so I never actually did it.
“I just wanted to work with books.”
And that they did, working with books for their whole career, both selling in and to bookshops.
“Now I work for Affirm Press, selling books to bookshops and so along the way, it provided the opportunity for me to have a lot of contacts,” Earp said.
They were in the sales world, not looking for anything else in particular.
“I never thought that I would be an editor,” Earp said.
“In 2017 I found myself with these ideas and the LoveOzYA campaign had just been launched shortly before, and I was on the committee for that.
“Then Danielle Binks published an anthology called Begin End Begin, which was showcasing Australian authors, and they used the #LoveOzYA hashtag as part of the title and I thought that was such a great idea, but I wanted to make it gay.”
And that they did, pitching the idea to a few publishers, having a similar format but inviting queer Australian authors to write short stories for young adults. Kindred was born.
“That was a fantastic experience, and I'm so proud of Kindred and when that came out, I apparently am a sucker for punishment, so I was like, I want to do it again but this time I would like to do it on a personal interest topic, which is fairy tales,” Earp said.
You might think that a social media complaint post doesn’t achieve much, but Earp is living proof it can lead to much more.
“Somewhere along the line there, I complained on social media about the lack of trans representation in authors in Australian young adult publishing and tagged all the different publishers and Fremantle Press got in touch and said, we agree with you,” they said.
Those four words resulted in a new anthology, edited by Earp and Alison Evans, of pirate stories from transgender authors.
“We were very excited to be able to present what, we believe, is mainstream publishing's first entirely trans collection of fiction, which was great,” Earp said.
It was especially exciting as Earp is non-binary themselves, but their journey wasn’t what you might expect to hear.
“I grew up in not regional but certainly not metro, in the central coast of NSW,” they said.
“I have four brothers, so there's five of us and lots of sort of masculine energy in the house and all the expectations that come along with that, and I never really felt like I was the same as my brothers or just guys in general.
“I only realised exactly what was going on with me in the last two years or so.
“It wasn’t anything specific, just a deep feeling of being different, being outside what society expects of me.
“I've never felt comfortable in very masculine spaces or in purely male crowds,” they said.
“I got jealous of younger generations and how willing they are to embrace their gender expression in whatever shape or form it comes in, and I found myself thinking over and over if I had been born 10 years later, then I would probably use they/them pronouns and consider myself non-binary.
“After thinking that solidly for, I don't know, a year or more, it occurred to me, it doesn't matter. I don't have to have been born 10 years later. If that's my truth, that's my truth.”
They said they haven’t felt the need to change their looks or style to align with their gender, that removing the label of man was enough.
“All of a sudden, I just feel like I can be myself and I don't have to worry about playing up to or fitting in with societal gender roles,” Earp said.
Earp was first involved with OUTintheOPEN accidentally, after an Echuca-planned event coincided with the popular Carnival Day and was relocated.
“They (Echuca Collin’s Booksellers) recommended I reach out to the festival, particularly for the carnival day,” Earp said.
“So I inadvertently found myself holding a stall in the Queen's Park.”
The stall was key in Earp’s Shepparton connections, as GV Libraries was there and asked if they would do an event in the library.
One year later, they are holding an Author Talk at the library as part of the OUTintheOPEN 2024 Festival.
The talk will focus on Avast! Pirate Stories from Transgender Authors, as it is the most recent anthology they’ve edited.
“It is the most recent anthology I've released and also pirates are just great fun to talk about,” Earp said.
“I'll talk about how the book came about, the process of editing other people's writing and how we put the whole book together.
“I'm going to be really open to any questions, whether it be about my work or writing in general.”
The fantasy genre has been used for hundreds of years to explore hard topics and get deep into conversation of oppression and self-expression with pirates being one example.
“You draw the parallel between pirates living outside the law and trans people, often having to make their own way in life because society isn't always set up to cater for people of all genders,” Earp said.
“You can discuss something that is vitally important, but because you've said it in a fantasy world and these are individuals, these are nations and peoples that are not in our world.
“It is a one step removed so you can discuss the issue and the problem without it being as emotionally and personally charged.”
Earp said it’s also a way to create a world without the hurt of real life, creating an escape for both author and reader.
“I know some people write fantasy as queer authors because they can dictate the world building and how queer people exist in that world,” they said.
“They can have it entirely normalised that royalty can be queer and no-one bats an eyelid or whatever the situation is. They can remove a lot of the societal barriers that are present in our world.
“It's a fun way to play around in a space where you don't have to pander to hierarchical structures that are in place.”
Michael Earp will be hosting an Author Talk on their latest anthology Avast! Pirate Stories from Transgender Authors, at the GV Libraries Shepparton branch on Marungi St.
The event is free to attend and will be held on Friday, November 8 from 6pm to 7.30pm.