‘Angry then, furious now’: Trent Dalton’s tough message for his home town ahead of hosting the Olympics

Yes, we’ve snagged the Olympics – but furious Trent Dalton says Australians first need to fix a growing crisis on our streets “while we’re talking about how great we are”.

Trent Dalton writes about life on the streets because, growing up, he was so close to it. He writes about domestic violence because he was surrounded by it.

And he wraps it up in the “rattling good read” adventure story bursting with hope and love that is his new book, Lola In The Mirror, because that’s what he believes in.

But right now the award-winning author, whose semi-autobiographical debut Boy Swallows Universe became a global phenomenon and a forthcoming big-name Netflix series, is angry. Angry that Australia’s epidemic of homelessness is worsening, despite apparently simple solutions. And angry that his beloved home town can supercharge itself to host the Olympics, but can’t fix this – nor can, or will, “Australia’s richest people”.

‘It’s only getting worse’ … Trent Dalton by the Brisbane River, where a number of the Olympics host city’s homeless dwell and a key backdrop in Lola In The Mirror. Picture: David Kelly

“I get stunned at the lack of awareness or the lack of action on this particular subject and it comes from a deep place,” he says, referring not only to his childhood but also the years spent documenting the issue after getting his break into journalism. “It made me angry 10 years ago and I’m furious now, because it’s only getting worse.”

The 2021 census recorded 122,494 people as homeless, up five per cent since 2016. In the past four years, the number of Australians needing homelessness support has increased eight per cent, according to one study, with women the vast majority of the new cases. In Dalton’s state of Queensland, homelessness has increased 22 per cent.

Underscoring the gravity, this Monday marks the start of National Homelessness Week.

‘That terrifies me’ … Trent Dalton, pictured here as a child, knows his family was perilously close to homelessness at times.

For all these reasons and more, in addition to writing Lola In The Mirror – a story anchored around a street-smart 18-year-old living rough, trying to piece together the truth of who she is while hovering between a life of crime and the life she really wants – Dalton is also embarking on a large-scale speaking tour around Australia after the book’s release in October, with the 2000-person launch event dedicated to homelessness charity Second Chance.

Second chances are something the 44-year-old knows about.

“I was raised by my dad in a brick public housing shoebox. My dad raised my three older brothers and I and he was able to raise us paying less than $100 a week rent. I have no doubt we would have been homeless if it was 2023. You know, that terrifies me.

“There would have been no Boy Swallows Universe, no journalism, nothing. It’s pretty hard to come at anything from that.”

Perfect one day, now look beneath the surface … future Olympics host Brisbane may be stunning, but there is a problem that is being reflected all across Australia.

While avoiding overtly political statements, the married dad-of-two is baffled why more cannot be done and why the charity workers who dedicate their lives to helping those in need get paid “zilch, pittance, peanuts”.

“The solution appears so simple, this is the thing: build more affordable homes. It is such a clear thing. There’s no wishy-washy grey areas about this and it’s just a matter of engaging the people who could really help out – sometimes meaning the richest people in Australia.”

When it comes to his beloved hometown Brisbane’s much-trumpeted hosting of the 2032 Olympics and the reality on its streets, he senses dissonance. In the novel, he conjures a nightmare scenario for key characters whose only place of security – a long-term tent city – will be bulldozed to make way for an athletes’ village.

Crime, love, mystery … Dalton wants his new book to be a ‘rattling good read’ with a serious message.

“Don’t get me wrong, I freaking love the fact that the Olympics is coming to the city, but what I’m trying to say in that book, and what hopefully some of the characters are getting across, is can we please remember to address this highly pressing issue while we’re talking about how great we are?”

If Dalton sees his job as highlighting the problem and starting the conversation, the fast-moving plot of Lola In The Mirror goes above and beyond (this journalist can vouch for that, having seen an advance copy). And he never loses sight of his primary duty as a storyteller: engage the readers with a great yarn.

“I truly wanted to tell something that speaks to our time and speaks to really deep and very important social issues, but not at the expense of a good read,” he says, citing the example set by writers such as Dickens and Steinbeck. “Let’s see if we can get people talking about social justice issues inside a book of total mystery and action and love.”

‘Blown my brain’ … Dalton is stunned by what he has seen of the coming Netflix adaptation of his semi-autobiographical Boy Swallows Universe, featuring Felix Cameron (above) as lead character Eli Bell.

Dalton wants to continue that conversation on his national tour with anyone who is keen. And he’ll be delving into much more besides: his two other novels, the Netflix adaptation of Boy Swallows Universe, due out later this year (he has seen three episodes so far and “it’s blown my brain into small particles”) and his experience with the uplifting Love Stories project as a riposte to Covid.

“I want these events to be absolutely nights of community and compassion,” he says. “And you know, I go a little bit nuts in there because I feel there’s sort of the love of a whole room of people agreeing on something. And that’s so rare in 2023 … it’s a really beautiful thing.”

Lola In The Mirror by Trent Dalton will be published by HarperCollins on October 4.

For details of Trent’s tour or to pre-order your copy go to www.harpercollins.com.au/trentdalton/