This book was written on unceded Wurundjeri land. I pay my respects to Wurundjeri elders, past and present, and to all First Nations people, who are the first storytellers here. This always was and always will be Aboriginal land.
Writing a novel can often feel like a solitary pursuit. I am fortunate to have a whole team of people in my corner, however, without whom Dancing Barefoot wouldn’t be the story it is today.
To the team at Text Publishing: Michael Heyward, Emily Booth, Anne Beilby, Kate Lloyd, Madeleine Rebbechi, Julia Kathro and Sophie Mannix, and especially enormous thanks to my editor, Jane Pearson. To Imogen Stubbs and Wanissa Somsuphangrsi for the cover of my dreams.
To the #LoveOzYA community, who have welcomed me with open arms. To my English and creative-writing teachers, especially Amy Brown, who was the first person to say, ‘I want to see this in a bookshop one day.’ To the generous people who shared their time and expertise: Alex Adsett, Emily Boyle, Sarah Hogan, Jes Hoskin, Jazmin Teresa Lagunas Lopez, Michael Livingston, Kate O’Donnell, Rosie Stock, Dr Michelle Telfer and Sav Wolfe. To Veronica Sullivan, Stella Charls and the team at the Wheeler Centre. To the judges of the Next Chapter: Sophie Cunningham, Benjamin Law, Christos Tsiolkas, and especially Ambelin Kwaymullina. To the Daisy Chain: K.Z. Barton, Richard Gwatkin and Thomas McInnes.
To the Boyles, the Manuells, the Ieraces, the Dyfvermans, the McLeans, the Stocks and the rest of my extended family. Thank you especially to my cheerleaders Janet Manuell, Christina Rowntree, John Boyle, Kate Khazour and Rosie Stock. To my friends in Belgium and Australia—you know who you are. Thank you, merci and bedankt. To my grandparents, Bob and Lorraine, who pour everything into supporting us grandkids. To Emily, Hugh, Ed, Lou (the original) and Viv. To my parents, Sally and Peter, for their endless support and for raising me to love books. To my partner, Lise Leitner. Getting to live my life with you is a privilege, an honour and a hell of a lot of fun. Thank you for picking me.
And finally, to queer kids everywhere: thank you for reading. You’re wonderful, you’re amazing, and I’m so glad you’re here.