Pajama Press

CBC Books Interview with Michelle Kadarusman

Quill & Quire Michelle Kadarusman Author Profile

Open Book Interview with Michelle Kadarusman

Michelle Kadarusman Presents Berani:

Books + Publishing “Michelle Kadarusman on ‘Berani'”

[Angela Crocombe:] You write Berani in three voices, one of which was the voice of the orangutan, Ginger Juice. How did you research and find the voice of an orangutan to make it sound authentic?

[Michelle Kadarusman:] I’m fortunate to have a good friend, a primatologist, who studied orangutans in Borneo. The work of Leif Cocks, the founder of The Orangutan Project, was also extremely helpful. All of my research pointed to the fact that orangutans and humans are so similar that an orangutan kept in longterm captivity would display the same kind of mental, physical and emotion deterioration that you would find in humans. This is a disturbing fact considering our habit of keeping apes in captivity and one that I wanted to try and communicate by having Ginger Juice’s voice heard from her cage. It was a bit of a creative leap for me and I changed her chapters more than any others when writing the manuscript. I also worked hard with my editor to help develop the tone. Ultimately, I hope her passages would allow readers to build empathy for her plight.

Read the full interview at booksandpublishing.com.au