Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus are so in sync, they’ve almost created a third voice – no longer Ali, nor Michelle, it’s almost like they’re Mali Balus.
The duo met as seven-year-olds at Melbourne’s Bialik and have been best friends, and writing partners, ever since.
“Our first collaborative writing experience was in year four during lunchtime writing club,” Kalus laughed, chatting to The AJN ahead of the release of the pair’s fourth book, Love Overdue. “There’s a photo of us in one of the yearbooks sitting side by side, writing together.”
For Kalus and Berg, books and stories have always been part of who they are and their shared dynamic. In 2016, they launched Books on the Rail – book ninjas setting books loose on Australian public transport services for other people to enjoy.
Berg described it as a “guerilla movement” inspired by London’s Books on the Underground.
“When we started it, we were just putting our own [personal] books on public transport, and then the press got wind of it and publishers got wind of it, and then they started sending us books all the time,” she explained.
“Having someone to collaborate with throughout the process makes sure that you’re constantly reflecting on the best course of action with a storyline. And you’re also really accountable” Michelle Kalus
Their first book, The Book Ninja, was inspired by the movement. The pair are excited to have launched their latest book – Love Overdue – into the world.
Kalus explained that it’s a change from previous novels in that the story is set in a school – Kalus is a primary school teacher – rather than advertising which is Berg’s world.
“[The] school is sort of a character of its own; the chaos, the dynamics, the children, the parents, the teachers. So it sort of just felt like such a rich and vibrant place to set a story,” Kalus explained. “The way that it goes back and forth, [it] allowed us to reflect on our own schooling, and all the fun, nostalgic elements of us being in year 12, and then all the fun, chaotic elements of that I’ve experienced working in primary schools.”
Kalus and Berg also pointed out that in a change from previous books, there is a lot of Jewishness in Love Overdue.
“We’ve always slightly, very mildly, dabbled in it with other books,” Berg said. “But we wanted to really highlight and celebrate the Jewish community. It’s such an important thing and something that we really feel like we need to celebrate and experience and have joy with at the moment. Especially now.”
In Love Overdue, the protagonist, Lauren, works in Caulfield. There’s also talk of Glicks the bakery, there’s Shabbat dinner, Seder, Chanukah and in Berg’s words, “it’s really a celebration of the Australian J com”.
“We spend so much time reading each other’s work and inserting ourselves through the edits we put in; we go back and forth so many times that we mostly can’t tell who has written what by the end of it” Ali Berg
The pair started writing Love Overdue before October 7 and admitted that they did toy with the idea of dialing down the Jewishness, but at the end of the day, both Berg and Kalus said they wanted to be true to themselves and their experiences.
“We toyed with whether we had the courage to do so, when the world was so shadowed by antisemitism, and it was something we seriously considered writing out of the novel,” Kalus shared. “But, we wanted a really authentic chance to celebrate Jewish people and Jewish culture in a totally apolitical way. It’s really just about what a Jewish person and Jewish family looks like – the rich dynamics and the warmth, the chaos. The big Friday night dinners with all the different family members. That was our way to contribute to the community, to celebrate it. And to make sure Jewish voices stay strong, especially in the arts world.”
“We have a lot of joy and pride in our community, so we want to share that and we know a lot of other people do too,” Berg reiterated.
One would think it would be tricky to write a novel with another person, but for Berg and Kalus, it comes naturally, and they both appreciate the check and balance the other provides.
Berg explained that they used to sit together, piano style, and try to write but they quickly realised that it didn’t work, especially as they write outside of their individual day jobs and around their children.
What does work is a very detailed plot map.
“That’s one of my favourite times of the whole book, where everything’s so fresh,” Berg gushed. “We sit down, usually over avo smash, and decide exactly what’s going to happen in every single chapter … and then when it comes to the actual writing, I might be writing one chapter and Mish will be writing another, and we pick up where the other left off.”
For Kalus, she appreciates having an in-built editor.
“We spend so much time reading each other’s work and inserting ourselves through the edits we put in; we go back and forth so many times that we mostly can’t tell who has written what by the end of it,” she said. Hence Mali Balus.
“Writing is such a solo profession,” Kalus continued. “Having someone to collaborate with throughout the process makes sure that you’re constantly reflecting on the best course of action with a storyline. And you’re also really accountable. Often, the only reason I get my word count done for the week is because I don’t want to let Ali down.”
When asked what they hope readers take away from the book, Kalus and Berg said two things – first that they feel joy and second that readers see how authentically the Jewish community is represented in the book.
“We want these stories to be a time that people feel joy and people feel uplifted,” Kalus said. “We sometimes refer to our books as the genre of ‘up-lit’, which is uplifting literature. We want it to be a fun time for the reader. We want them to laugh. And I think that’s why we have so much fun writing it, especially doing it together.
“This story goes a little bit deeper, with themes around family, around grief, and I think there are some moments that bring up some big emotions that we certainly felt when when we were writing them as well. But even though we’ve got these heavier themes, we ultimately want it to be a read that’s just really enjoyable and makes people laugh and feel good.”
“I feel like something that we really hope translates to our readers is that you can see our community represented authentically in this book,” Berg said, explaining that there are so many television shows and novels that represent Jews but they’re always set in the US or the UK. “You don’t have that very unique Australian Jewish community. And I think we are really unique. I think we’re just a really special, loving, nurturing community, and we’ve got really good bakeries and food,” she laughed.
The pair also said it’s important for them that people who have never met a Jewish person, see how authentic, genuine and special the community is.
“If they can see how great our community is, it’s something that we hope comes through.”
Love Overdue is published by Allen & Unwin, $22.99 rrp
comments