29 August 2008 Melbourne Writers Festival

Jennifer Goode

Blind Devotion is the first piece of fiction I have written based on truth, if that makes sense.

Recently I remarked to my writing tutor, if I only have one piece of work published in the span of my lifetime, I want it to be Blind Devotion. If it ever is published I can stop writing and die happy.

What makes this story so special?
It is a unusual human interest story and one well worth telling

What’s it about?
Blind Devotion is about the unique trade between an esquestrienne who becomes disabled and her horse, who is gradually losing his sight-in essence, he becomes her legs and she becomes his vision. It is about their parallel journey towards acceptance of the difficulties of life and making the most of what you have.

It’s amazing how life hurdles can translate into opportunities. Blind Devotion is my story, and had I not struggled with disability for a period in my life, I would never have followed a career in writing. When you lose something inherent and fundamental, such as your movement, other abilities come into play. I went from a person with an active body to someone with an over-active imagination, using writing as the outlet for that.

I’d like to share something with you. This is Riley, my horse. For logistical reasons, he couldn’t he here today so I figured this picture to be the next best thing. This wonderful article appeared in our local paper, the Frankston Standard.

I feel very privileged to be here today. Blind Devotion was my first piece of fiction writing to be accepted for publication, yet not the first piece to be published. I was here-same time, same place last week for the launch of Fly and Pendulum magazines, with two more short stories published in Fly.

My story has a happy ending. After surgery I have regained most of my strength and movement. Riley is sick at the moment with an eye abscess but is recovering well. Although he will never be free of disease, we can make him comfortable with medication to control the condition. Coming into Spring, he has never looked better and in his mind he is a stallion with his whole harem of beautiful mares, so he is a very happy boy indeed.

I would like to thank Melbourne Books for their initiative in putting together this anthology. It is a wonderful celebration of Australian talent and quite unique in that it combines both poetry and short stories. Australian anthologies are my favourite reads, and to have stories and poems together in the one book makes the experience of reading twice as enjoyable. I hope the anthology will be an annual event, giving authors and poets a worthy benchmark to aspire towards. Thankyou.