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Winning writer: ‘I still can’t spell’

He’s a writer, playwright and poet, and has even been a regular on Auckland’s gig scene as a hip-hop star – but Dominic Hoey still describes himself as a ‘‘dyslexic who failed high school and I still can’t spell’’.

In an interview on Stuff today to help launch this year’s Sunday Star-Times Short Story Awards (which Hoey won last year), he tells Kelly Dennett how he learnt to conquer his dyslexia and a speech impediment to become an award-winning writer and performer.

Great writing, Hoey tells Dennett from his home in Onehunga, comes from reading. ‘‘You just need to read. You need to read all the time.’’

Growing up with dyslexia and a speech impediment, Hoey didn’t master reading until he was eight or nine. Once he was on his way, he couldn’t be stopped. His parents filled the house with books, a whole library in fact, and if an author’s name seized him, Hoey could usually find their book in that library.

Dyslexia became a dominion. He doesn’t know what his writing would be like if he wasn’t. He’s always got ideas. ‘‘That’s definitely from dyslexia. Your brain works differently, I guess.’’

His fascination with words continued into adulthood. When he turned 20 he really wanted to be a writer – but he didn’t know any. He grew up in a poor neighbourhood, he says, where nobody attended university or travelled overseas. He knew rappers, though, and he liked hip-hop, so he started rapping under the stage name Tourettes. Then he got into poetry and started asking about that. His book of poems, I Thought We’d Be Famous, was published in 2019.

Now, Hoey can effectively pick and choose what he wants to work on – but he likes to focus himself. He doesn’t have a favourite method. Whatever he’s not working on is what he yearns to do.

Right now, he’s packing for the Toronto International Festival of Authors, where he is appearing to promote his third book, Poor People With Money. Meanwhile, he’s a few thousand words into his next novel, a social history of a Grey Lynn family, a familiar theme in Hoey’s works – his winning short story, 1986, was judged as a ‘‘sharply observed social commentary’’.

‘‘I really want to write some poetry [but] I don’t have any new stuff. I want to do another play. It’s always the thing you’re not doing. I really believe you can’t have two projects on the go. I can’t, anyway. You only have so many ideas, and if you’re splitting up projects it’s just going to be trash. My ex, who is an artist, said, ‘you have to put all your eggs in one basket, and if it doesn’t work out, kei te pai, move on to the next thing’.’’

Hoey’s advice for writers entering the awards is succinct: ‘‘Edit your work. Do at least five drafts.’’ And for anyone thinking they’re no good? Just look at his own example, he says. ‘‘I’m a dyslexic who failed high school and I still can’t spell.’’

If you want to enter this year’s competition, see full details on stuff.co.nz

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2022-09-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-09-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/281732683353835

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