Boy Swallows Universe author Trent Dalton has expressed his awe at the continued success of his work, now adapted as a stage production.

There’s a national tour “on the cards” and a Hollywood film adaption in the works, but Mr Dalton told Deborah Knight he never expected anything near the international acclaim his debut novel has received.

The book is semi-autobiographical, with the other 50 per cent “wishful thinking … to bring the hope and the light to the end of that story”.

The only reaction that matters to Mr Dalton is that of his mother, who he revealed has been bound up in the journey all the way since the book’s conception.

“I haven’t really told this much to people, but … she read really early drafts, and she sent these notes just on a Spirax notepad.

“‘Page 256, heroin wouldn’t have cost that in 1985, by the way, Trent’ – just little notes … I’ll try to keep her away from the scriptwriter!”

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