Interview with Andrew HC McDonald - The Montegiallo School of Swearing

Andrew HC McDonald was born in the small town of Shackleton in the Wheatbelt of Western Australia, moving to the foothills of Perth at an early age.

He has been a photographer, a comedian, storyteller and is well known as a visual artist, particularly as a printmaker. He currently works at Curtin University.

And he’s now written – and about to see launched and then filling, for a very short time before selling like hot cakes, the shelves of bookstores here and there, and hopefully everywhere – his first novel, The Montegiallo School of Swearing.

The story line goes like this. Accidentally buying a Sicilian villa for just one euro is not the great Eat, Pray, Love game-changer that Brian Chapman hoped it would be. Instead, tumbledown buildings, a shortage of plumbers, and resentful locals make Brian’s drunken whim look like the biggest mistake of his chequered career so far. Who could believe that an outbreak of swearing would lead not only to cultural reconciliation but to this very Australian fish out of water finding true love in Italy?

The book is very funny. Many LOL moments. The first two chapters totally hook you. Really, it’s a romcom movie in the making. Glorious. A great read.

And you can get it right here and at good bookstores near you!

Having read the book, the Editor of Fremantle Shipping News, Michael Barker, was pleased to catch up with Andrew HC McDonald to make the podcast, that you find below, where we discuss the book, its writing, the challenges in writing it, what he has learned along the way, the whirlwind of being a published author, writer’s hair – and what the HC after Andrew and before McDonald signify!

By Michael Barker, Editor, Fremantle Shipping News

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