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Abstract

Brisbane author Nick Earls holds a position of exceptional significance for a writer in his home town. After some 10 years in the literary limelight, Earls was chosen as the face of the city in a television and print media campaign for Brisbane tourism (the ‘It's happening’ campaign), suggesting that he and his work would be widely recognised, and his opinions respected — key reasons for choosing a celebrity to promote any product. Earls represents a new type of public role for writers, who often must cross boundaries of intellectual respectability and popular cultural or ‘celebrity’ appeal to succeed in the current media climate. Leading up to the Brisbane promotional campaign, Earls had a long association with the local press, which enabled him to work simultaneously as a serious author, comedian, boy-next-door and social commentator. His decision, in his early published novels, to make maximal, unapologetic use of Brisbane as a setting earned him the title of ‘Brisbane's favourite son’ (MacColl 1998). At times he has used this title to his advantage; at other times the press has made him work in an ambassadorial role for Brisbane even as the themes and scenes of his writing were changing. Earls has also had considerable international success, particularly with his first novel for adults, Zigzag Street. Using theories about the production of celebrities and close analysis of Earls' press coverage, this article examines the author as a text, looking at the interaction between Earls, his novels and the broader condition of the contemporary publishing and media industries for clues as to how Earls, over other Brisbane writers, found himself with the keys to the city.