Have you ever been so inspired by an author’s work that you wish you could tell them exactly how much they have impacted your life? In this series, Literary Love Letters, we do just that – share open love letters to inspiring authors. Today, The Sea Between Us author Emylia Hall writes to Tim Winton.
I read Breath for the first time when I was high up in the mountains. After a day flying through snow I’d lie in the bath reading, and when the sun rose again I was back out, your words charging my every turn. The way you write about surfing perfectly captures how I feel about snowboarding, and it’s seductive, when someone stirs in you that sort of comprehension. I’m no ‘Pikelet’, but I do remember the times when I’ve sought to push my luck, when that so-particular mix of fear and adrenalin and possibility feels like a rare and beautiful thing.
But enough about snow – no one writes the sea as perfectly, or as poetically, as you, and after reading your memoir, Land’s Edge, I understand why. The ocean is part of who you are. And while your appreciation and respect for the beauty of the natural world shines brightly, I think you believe in the innate beauty of people too. You write so tenderly, even the most imperfect of your characters – the wrongdoers, the morose, the faintly ridiculous – are granted a kind of grace. I reckon that makes you an author to not just admire, but to love.
With love and gratitude,
Emylia