An Interview with Wendy Waters

Wendy Waters is an award-winning author, composer, lyricist, and librettist. Born in Australia, she grew up in Sydney, lived in the USA for six years, and now divides her time between London, Sydney, and Paris. In 2011 Waters volunteered to work with OASIS Salvation Army Crisis Centre in Sydney, helping musically gifted young people and it was in this capacity that she first conceived of the idea of a guardian angel rescuing a troubled or abused child as many of the young people at Oasis spoke of guardian angels coming to their rescue at times of danger.

Waters has also written five musicals: Fred, Alexander, and The Last Tale (with composer Shanon Whitelock), The Butterfly Collector with composer Sean O’Boyle, and The Lovesong of Ruben Keyes with composers Ricardo Nunes Fernandes & Frank Loman

Waters’ debut novel, Catch the Moon, Mary, was published in the UK in 2015 and has been adapted into both a stage play and a screenplay. The play and Fred had staged readings at Tristan Bates Theatre in 2017 with graduate students from Amanda Redman’s ATS Drama School.

Music is a constant theme in Waters’ work, and it still plays a major role in her latest novels, Fields of Grace, Paradis Inferno, and Miriam – La Colombe Blanche.

Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?

Nobody made me want to write. The urge to express myself in words is intrinsic to my personality and the most fluid expression I have to process my soul.

What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?

I started life as an actress/singer and had the opportunity to travel the world and explore different cultures. While I was doing my creative writing course, I cleaned houses and worked as a waitress to pay rent and tuition fees and put food on the table as a single mum.

What part of publishing your book made it feel real for the first time?

The day Andrew Sparke contacted me with a request for the full manuscript.

If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?

I would draw from Shakespearean sonnets set to music because the book is set in Elizabethan England.

What’s one thing you hope sticks with readers after they finish your book?

The power of the soul to overcome the odds and find an authentic voice that adds to the universal picture of creation.

What was the most rewarding/meaningful part of publishing your book?

Knowing that my work will live on after I’m gone and find traction in the hearts and minds of a new generation.

What creative projects are you currently working on?

I am currently writing a book and lyrics for three musicals.

Are you a writer, too? Submit your manuscript to Atmosphere Press.