specialty focus
Adam Brannigan is a Queensland-based registered nurse and post graduate student . Picture : Supplied
“ My career as a nurse does without a doubt inform the writing .
Nurse of letters
Using writing as a creative outlet to offset the demands of the job .
By Eleanor Campbell
After hearing news he had won a national literary award , Queensland palliative care nurse Adam Brannigan said he had no plans on becoming a best-selling author .
“ I just keep offering my perspectives on the world and hope people want to read them ,” he said .
The 49-year-old recently won first place in the inaugural 2021 Kuracca Prize for Australian Literature .
The judges awarded Adam for his short stories ‘ Great Grandmother Arrabrilya ’, a pre-invasion tale of a dreamer who visits an elder , and ‘ Lest We Forget ’, a monologue of a settler guarding his farm against an Indigenous man .
“ I really favour flash fiction and short stories . I ’ ve tried my hand at novels , but I get to a certain word count and I lose steam ,” said Adam .
Growing up in an Airforce family , Adam began writing as a teenager in a very non-serious , confessional tone , and kept it as a secret hobby into his 20s and 30s .
It was the marriage celebrant at his wedding who suggested that he pursue a creative writing degree after the arts lecturer was taken by his vows .
“ I think we all need a creative outlet and I think nursing , especially now it ’ s so demanding , it ’ s so challenging , so emotional and we ’ re giving so much more .
“ It ’ s tough and I ’ ve found that for me in the last few years , I think writing has been … it ’ s kind of saved me .”
After working as a disability support worker for several years , Adam enrolled in a nursing degree in his early 40s .
As soon as he graduated , he took up a position in an inpatient mental health ward in Toowoomba and then transitioned up and down the coast before moving into palliative care .
He said the human aspect of healthcare is what has charged his writing the most .
“ Even from disability services , right through nursing , mental health and palliative care , the death and dying process and the process of grieving and some of the human condition is very raw in those settings , it ’ s very present .
“ It ’ s hard not to be influenced by my career as a nurse , and that does without a doubt inform the writing ,” he said .
Since 2018 , Adam has studied a bachelor ’ s of creative writing and publishing part-time at the University of the Sunshine Coast .
Through his degree , he has been mentored by published authors and academics who encouraged him to submit pieces into local and international writing competitions .
Balancing his creative studies with fulltime responsibilities at the hospital , he said , requires much time and patience .
“ It is very difficult , especially with shift work or if I ’ ve done a series of afternoons or I do night shifts and then I have to read ,” he said .
“ There ’ s little tricks that I ’ ve learned , little shortcuts , but on the whole , it ’ s a difficult balancing act .”
Working in the palliative care field , dealing with life , death and loss , the daily creative ritual has become a comfort over the past few years , he said .
“ Grief is one of those common things that we all face at some point in various instances , not always necessarily around the death of a relative or a friend , but just normal instances of grief of loss .
“ That ’ s where I ’ m most comfortable writing : in those shadowed places , I guess you can say , where things are a bit complex and murky .”
A descendant of the Bardi people from northern Broome , Adam said that some of his pieces are influenced by his cultural histories , but he is most intrigued by the day-to-day complexities of human relationships .
He said his writing is most influenced by global literature , from American novelist Richard Brautigan to Japanese writer Haruki Murakami .
His award-winning short stories will be published in the Winter edition of the literary journal Overland , which opened its nationwide writing competition in 2020 to support the struggling arts community . Reflecting on his first place win , Adam said he hopes to pursue further opportunities in writing and academia , and said he currently has his sights set on poetry .
“ I have an opportunity obviously for post-graduate studies in nursing , the masters , but the masters in creative writing is really strongly beckoning to me at the moment .
“ I ’ m very happy in my nursing career , I see a future in that . I ’ m getting to the point where I need to consider what I need to do in terms of my life in the next 10 years .” ■
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