Katrina Fox chats to lesbian author Sarah Waters who's in Sydney this week to promote her new book.

The British are renowned for being uptight about sex, and until the recent introduction of civil partnerships for same-sex couples, the country had a poor track record on gay and lesbian issues. So it's no surprise that the appearance of a large dildo in the BBC's TV adaptation of Sarah Waters' first novel, Tipping the Velvet, caused a stir. Set in the showbusiness world of Victorian London, it tells the tale of Nan King and her lesbian dalliances. Waters' third novel, Fingersmith, followed suit by again placing lesbian lust in Victorian London at the centre of the story and was also adapted for TV.

Waters is unsure why her lesbian historical fiction has become popular with mainstream audiences. "I guess part of it is that the historical stuff - not that this was ever my intention - seems to make it safer for people," she says. "Also I think it's about timing - since 1998 when my first book came out, things have relaxed a lot in the UK. Gay stuff seems to be everywhere - gay produced work and work about gays, and I wonder if it's a phase that'll pass or if it's permanent. The civil partnerships thing is amazing - who could have predicted that?"

Reviewers of her latest title, The Night Watch have suggested that because a straight character and relationship are featured, she may become even more accessible to a non-queer audience. "That may well be true," she admits. "But it wasn't my intention. There's three lesbians, a gay man and a straight woman, so in that sense it's still pretty queer." Unlike some writers, she's not afraid to be labelled a 'lesbian author'. "I write books I'd like to read myself," she explains. "When I look to tell a story and look to history, lesbianism is there as it is in my own life. I just take it for granted - it's a base for me. So it makes sense to call me a lesbian writer."

Her fascination with the past led to her writing her PhD on the inadequacies and potential of the contemporary lesbian historical genre which inspired her write her first novel. "As a historical novelist you're looking to tell fresh stories about the past and the one way I've done that is to focus on gay and lesbian stories, because the past is full of them but they're not popular and sometimes have been actively obscured or silenced," she says.

The Night Watch breaks from Waters' traditional setting of Victorian London for her novels, instead being set in the 1940s. It tells the stories of a group of friends, their secrets, loves and frustrations. "I wanted to change, have a bit of a challenge in taking on a new era," she says. "I hadn't seen stories about lesbian life told in the setting of the post-war period. During the war too there were interesting things happening for lesbians and gay men, and women generally. It was a time when lesbians and gay men were more visible than they'd been in the 19th century."

During her tour to Australia, Waters has been pleased to see lesbians turn out in force to hear her speak and she's especially enjoying her stay in Sydney. "The gay thing seems much more established with Mardi Gras here," she says. "We have Pride in the UK, but it's not quite such a feature in London, so Sydney seems like an incredibly gay-friendly city."

www.sarahwaters.com

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