Part of a series of interviews with experienced Christian writers—of academic and popular theology, fiction, and those writing for a non-Christian audience.
Tell us about yourself.
How does a socially and theologically conservative Sri Lankan Tamil Christian end up a sexologist writer and speaker in Australia? I was born in the tea plantations of Sri Lanka during the dying days of British imperial rule. My Christian parents brought me up to be a good traditional housewife. But they also valued education so they sent me to a Christian boarding school in the capital city Colombo and encouraged me to pursue a medical degree in university, which laid the foundation for my secular career and Christian ministry. Their Christian faith made them broad-minded enough to cope with my rebelliousness when I wanted to marry a Christian Sinhalese man.
I began my academic medical work in anatomy. Early in my academic career, I got asked to teach sexual health at Colombo University because I was the only woman in my department at the time. Because I was teaching sexual health, I was given a scholarship to engage in postgraduate study at the University of Hawaii under one of pioneers who established sexology as a proper academic profession: Professor Milton Diamond. During this time, I continued to be ministered to by conservative evangelical churches: the Methodist Church in Sri Lanka and a Southern Baptist Church in Hawaii.
When my husband Vasantha, son Kamal and I migrated to Australia, I joined the University of Sydney. I started as a generalist anatomist but founded and directed the university’s postgraduate online sexual health course from 2003–2011. We did online education before it was cool. In 2011 that course received an award from the World Association of Sexual Health for excellence in education, which was a nice retirement gift. My husband and I have been members of St John’s Anglican Church Parramatta for decades. Our son Kamal is a Presbyterian minister.
Who encouraged you in your explicitly Christian, non-fiction writing?
My knowledge of the global sexual health academe showed me where society was heading. So when the Sydney Anglican Diocese invited me to speak to their 2011 Faithfulness in Service seminar, I warned them about the oncoming transgender tsunami. One of the attendees was Marshall Ballantyne-Jones. At the time he was with Youthworks Media, and he invited me to write books helping young Christians engage with sexuality.
With each book I published, people asked for more. I wrote Teen Sex By The Book first, and thought “right, that’s done, now I can relax.” But people asked for one for pre-teens. So I wrote Growing Up By The Book. And then they asked for one for primary schoolers—the Birds and Bees by the Book six-book set—and then one for preschoolers—You and Me By The Book. And just when I thought “whew, that’s all the age categories covered,” I got asked to write one for parents—a guide on how to use the other four—Talking Sex By The Book. Then people were asking for guidance on how to respond to transgender ideology, so I collaborated with Rob Smith and Kamal on The Gender Revolution. The three of us are currently writing two follow-up books on gender identity, one for teenagers and another for parents.
How do you think about your explicitly Christian writing?
My non-fiction books are my ministry to the church. They are the crystallisation of my academic analysis of sex, relationships, and gender over forty years across three continents. I don’t hold a formal theological degree—I did some of the Moore Preliminary Theological Certificate correspondence courses but never completed enough to officially graduate. But my academic disposition has propelled me to read and listen to quality theology and ethics and apologetics. And I have benefited from Kamal’s constant informal tutoring and feedback.
God has guided me into this unique combination of being competent with academic sexual health and also able to interpret it through a biblical Christian theological and moral framework—of being an evangelical sexologist. All I’ve done is try my best to treat that combination as a divine ‘vocation’. God has equipped me to serve his church at this cultural moment. I’ve said to my secular sexual health colleagues: they know how sex operates; I know that too, and the God who designed it that way.
What motivated you to also write fiction?
I’ve always enjoyed reading. I expected to have a lot of free time in my retirement, so I planned to do some fiction writing. As an academic I had published scholarly articles but hadn’t attempted fiction. So I attended a professional writing course which helped understand the dynamics of creative writing.
How do you think about your less-explicitly Christian fiction?
I write what’s called ‘faith-based’ or ‘faith-inspired’ fiction. Christianity is not the main theme. They’re not even Christian allegories in the style of C. S. Lewis. But they’re all influenced by the Christian worldview. I hope they communicate Christian themes in fun, interesting, exciting ways.
My books tend to be romances. The main drama driving the narrative is whether the guy and the girl will get together. Sub-themes have to do with various social issues, like colonisation, racial tensions and sex slavery. I’m currently working on some children’s novellas which engage with environmental issues. My Christian values come as the characters interact with each other and work through those issues.
I set my fiction in places I love—the Sri Lankan tea plantations, the Snowy Mountains in southern NSW, and the Nullarbor Desert. I like creating interesting characters with complex backstories and then continuing their sagas in later books. I also like creating multigenerational families. I guess that’s what fiction is all about: letting your imagination run riot to create detailed worlds populated by complex characters who get entangled in all kinds of relationships and wind up in all kinds of predicaments and adventures.
How did you get your fiction published?
I met Rochelle Stephens, owner owns Wombat Books and Rhiza Press, at a conference for Christian writers. She has been my guide in writing novels for adults, young adults, and children.
What do you find difficult about fiction writing?
Getting the setting right takes a lot of research! I’ve visited the Snowy Mountains and the Nullarbor Desert on holidays, so I know what they’re like. But I’ve still had to spend days finding out about them so I can describe them properly.
Do you have any advice for those starting to seek publication?
Find something you are passionate about and you feel is needed. Then research—lots. Read and consult widely. Talk to pastors, researchers, academics, and ordinary people. When you have written something, show it to people, get feedback, and edit, edit, edit. Prepare a pitch and practice it. Then give it a go!
Now at seventy-eight years of age, I am contemplating where I go with my writing. What I love to do in these my twilight years is mentor young women in their Christian walk and encourage aspiring writers to develop their talents to enrich the church. Will that involve more writing? I am willing to leave that in God’s hands and say with the psalmist:
Since my youth, God, you have taught me,
and to this day I declare your marvellous deeds.
Even when I am old and grey,
do not forsake me, my God,
till I declare your power to the next generation,
your mighty acts to all who are to come. (Psalm 71:17-18)
