As her long-awaited second novel, Disquiet, is published, Julia Leigh is profiled by Deborah Snow in "The Sydney Morning Herald".
We begin fencing over a mystery: the long hiatus since her extraordinary literary debut in 1999. That first multi-award-winning novel, The Hunter, led to a Rolex scholarship which teamed her with revered American writer and Nobel laureate Toni Morrison for a year's mentoring in the US. But then, nothing. Or, at least, no other published novel until this month's release of Disquiet, a slim work of 121 pages. Despite intense speculation, Leigh is not about to gratify anyone with a detailed explanation."Let me think, about the long wait ... [pause] ... First of all, I don't think an author is under any obligation to produce a novel or a work of literature as if there's some sort of industrial process about it."
Then later, "There is a nice quote I like from poet Elizabeth Bishop, something like scientists and artists are alike in that they are prepared to waste effort ... When I am
exploring things, when I set out, I can't be guaranteed of a result."
