Word for Word Festival with Rob Snarski
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Word for Word Festival with Rob Snarski

Rob Snarski has had an incredible life, from fronting The Blackeyed Susans for over 25 years, performing alongside the likes of Johnny Cash and Leonard Cohen, to releasing critically acclaimed solo albums. He has truly done it all. Now venturing to the world of literature, Rob has recently released his memoir ‘You Are Not Rob Snarski’.

According to Rob, the process of writing his memoir was very unexpected, all stemming from a simple post on social media.

“It was something that was really unconventional and really unexpected as well, I simply wrote a piece and posted it on social media and then an artist friend of mine from Perth convinced me to send it onto WA Publishing and that started the ball rolling,” he explains.

“I spoke to a woman called Terry Anne Wright, who was the head of publishing, and she gave me a challenge to write a few more pieces and to see what shape it was taking. It was a very enjoyable process and very different to song writing, in that, in memoir writing you are working with your memory, whereas with song writing you work more so with your creative side.”

After spending time recounting his past memories, Rob spoke about how cathartic the writing of his memoir was for him.

“Something gets you into the cycle of remembering, you start a sentence and away you go. I guess I was trusting my memory a hell of a lot. I only had one diary to work with and that was from when The Blackeyed Susan’s first visited America, so that was easy to check up on, but with the rest it was largely up to digging deep and finding those stories within my memories,” he says. “I also only chose the memories that have shaped me as a person, so in some ways what is in the book might not be important to anyone else, but they certainly are to me.”

In support of the recent book release, Rob will be a guest speaker at this years Word For Word National Non-Fiction Festival.

The festival will include a panel featuring Rob alongside Charles Jenkins and Billy Murray.

“It’s always interesting for me to hear from other musicians, to hear where their inspiration comes from and how they go about their own craft,” he continues, “To me, song writing is still very much a mystery and I find it very difficult to understand where that seed comes from. It seems like ideas float from the sky and land in my lap and melodies do the same thing, so you end up with the song, but where it comes from…who knows? So I am looking forward to hearing from those guys.”

Written by Alex Callan

When & Where: Geelong Library and Heritage Centre, Geelong – November 17 – 19

Tickets for the Word for Word Non-Fiction Festival are now on sale and the full program is available via the website.