Michael Hyde will be joining us for a day of workshops and talks in Melton on Tuesday 16 October. Here’s the Magpie-loving writer to introduce himself.

I am a mad Collingwood Magpies supporter. When my family arrived in Melbourne in 1954, I was about eight or nine years old. We rented half a house in Parkville, near the Carlton footy ground. My Dad worked at Collingwood Tech as the Chaplain. I went for the Maggies and my brother went for the dirty Blues.

My dream car is a campervan. We used to have vans but then became all conservative and boring with proper cars. My fantasy is to spend a couple of months on the road bumping into stories along the way (just like Alan Marshall used to do)…

Favourite TV program would have to be Summer Heights High. If you’re not watching it by next week I’ll give you a detention where you have to watch the whole series. If you don’t crack up you need a humour transplant…

The best thing about reading is doing it on the toilet. People tend to leave you alone – especially after a hot curry…Don’t you just love Kenny?

I have never been able to kick ten perfect drop punts in a row. As soon as I can Collingwood will put me in the same team as Strauchnie.

I began writing when kids at Footscray Tech in the seventies asked me to have a go. They didn’t much like the stuff that was around then…

My latest book is Surfing Goliath which is about two mates pitting themselves against the power of nature. One kid wants to surf a massive wave and his friend intends catching a huge bronze whaler shark. Both the wave and the shark are called Goliath. And Winning Streak (basketball), the sixth in my choose-your-own-adventure Change the Game series. I have another two teen books and another YA novel out next year.

The best thing about being a writer is the massive pile of money I make which allows me to employ chefs, maids, cleaners and drivers (when I need one), masseurs, a pilot for my private jet, and of course which lets me give away heaps of money to my kids and friends and…

I like books that take me into a world of characters, events and settings that make me forget I’m reading and leave me with a better understanding of the world and people. Don’t care if they make me sad or happy, just as long as they keep me on the hook and leave me with something.

For more on Michael Hyde, visit his publisher’s website.

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