Author Corner: Nalini de Sielvie: Thistles in the Wind – An autobiography : Story by Marie Pietersz, Melbourne
Nalini de Sielvie is a Sri Lankan-born Melbourne author whose recent novel Thistles in the Wind has made it on the world stage. Published by Authorhouse (UK) in November 2018, it was displayed at the Tucson Book Fair, Arizona (US) Campus, in March 2019, and is also available on Amazon, online book stores and at Australian libraries.
Many books have been written and published by Nalini since she arrived in Melbourne more than forty-five years ago, but this autobiography, comprising over a thousand pages, is about her own story in detail and is crammed with stories about life in Sri Lanka and Australia that will make you both laugh and cry. Part 1 ‘The Lotus Island’ is about family history, childhood, teenage years and getting married at eighteen, while Part 2 ‘Southern Stars’ deals with the struggles of settling down in a new country, motherhood, domestic issues, and striving to achieve her goals whilst writing continually.
“Memories sustain us in our autumn years, lighting up the road ahead, and easing the burden of life’s arduous journey. So I begin my travels down memory lane to when it all started, in post-colonial Ceylon,” says Nalini.
There is not much more that can be written about Nalini that hasn’t already been written about this Woman of Substance, suffice to say that this quiet achiever is an amazingly humble human being who has achieved so much in the face of adversity and continues to do so with her indomitable fervour and faith in spite of the challenges she has had to face of domestic disharmony, family rifts and loss, nursing a sick husband through a terminal illness and now confronted with serious health problems.
Nalini migrated to Australia in 1972, a newly qualified journalist at age twenty with her husband, and has two sons.
Nalini says, “When I came to Melbourne in 1972, I was terribly homesick and isolated as my whole family was still in Sri Lanka. Only a couple of my husband’s siblings were here.
“Being pregnant and lonely, my thoughts constantly dwelt on my ‘Island home’ and family I had left behind, and so began my nostalgic recollections of my childhood, parents and relatives.
“It was cathartic and assuaged my isolation during many long lonely hours at home awaiting the birth of my first son, while dealing with all the issues new migrants face besides coping with domestic disharmony.”
It was only Nalini’s stoicism, persistence and faith and her development of long-term friendships that made it possible for her to handle the long hours of hard work, the dark side of her life, keeping the home fires burning, raising her sons, holding on to a career that made it possible to survive economically and gradually surviving as a migrant. She also knew she had to find time to follow her dreams of realising her talents and fulfilling her ambitions because she needed this for her inner life and soul.
She holds diplomas in journalism, scriptwriting, commercial art, and pianoforte, and worked for the Commonwealth Government from 1986 to 2005 before changing direction. She currently teaches piano at a local primary school besides painting and writing.
Writers World Queensland, and other publications have published Nalini’s award-winning short stories, articles and poems in several anthologies. She also contributes articles, poems, and short stories to various magazines and local newspapers.
This unusual woman has been able to champion her way through the maze of life’s obstacles by seeing the seriousness of situations and being able to keep her counsel. Her laughter, sadness, grief, regrets, love, they are all there in her writing, the outlet and window to this writer’s soul, her liberation.
Her stories and poems appeared in a recently published anthology, Wild Poppies and in the Society of Women Writers Victoria anthology, Climb the mountain.
In 1995, Nalini was included in the Who’s Who of Australian Writers and is a current member of the Society of Women Writers, Writers Victoria, Australian Writers Guild, Peninsula Arts Society, and was President of Authors Australia Inc (independent publishers).
“Until we are fully grown, we seldom think of childhood,
Like thistles in the wind has blown
All that’s dear swept away for good.
Nor all regrets, our tears and pain,
Make the thistle whole again.”
Nalini de Sielvie has published eight other books to date (fiction, short stories and poems).
Dark Shores-Return to Serendib
Serendib
Wild Poppies
An Eternal Summer
Is this your Caruso? Biography of Tenor Luigi Campeotto
Catsville
Edge of Nowhere
Return to Enchantment
An amazing journey! A big life! Thistles in the Wind is her own story, an honest, poignant recollection of her life without the sugar-coating. It is a must read.
website: www.nalinidesielvie.com
instagram: www.instagram.com/nalini_author
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