BEN Hobson is a teacher in Brisbane who writes in his spare time and was invited to be a featured author at the Mount Beauty Writers Festival.

Ben has been writing for the past decade since he moved to Brisbane from Victoria to be with his wife.

While in Victoria, he was in a punk band called Sounds Like Chicken as the bass guitarist and after moving to Brisbane, he felt as though he lost his creative outlet which prompted his wife to suggest that he tried writing instead.

“My wife said ‘you read a lot so why not try writing’, so I just started to open up the laptop and research and start to write and I fell in love with it,” he said.

He released his first book ‘To Become a Whale’ in 2017 after realising he enjoyed writing for an audience.

“I think at first it was just for fun but I slowly started to get addicted to the idea of people reading my work,” he said.

“One of the first short stories I wrote got picked up for a magazine and that feeling of having people read it felt great, and that really solidified that goal of having my name on the front of a book eventually.”

The main genres Ben was drawn to were literary writing and historical crime fiction and he often tries to blend the two in his work.

“I kind of like how crime fiction is always getting you to think about life and death and what would you do in this circumstance so that’s really in my bag,” he said.

While juggling writing and teaching English and music can be difficult, Ben said it’s worth it especially when he gets to connect with people over the books he’s both read and written.

“Reading and writing feels like the purest way of experiencing another life and you don’t get to very often,” he said.

“The best thing about writing is if I’ve made someone feel the way I feel when I read really good books then I’m happy.

"It’s a discipline it's like exercise, it's just like anything that’s good for you just have to force yourself to get to the computer."

Ben also runs a monthly online book club called Ben’s Book Club and the Burgers, Beers and Books podcast.

He said he's looking forward to the Mount Beauty Writers Festival because it seems like it will have the level of intimacy that allows for both readers and writers alike to have their say.

“Writers festivals can be really big and it’s very easy to lose yourself in the mix of the hustle and this sounds like it’s really picturesque and down to earth,” Ben said.

“If you’re interested in ideas or writing as a craft or reading at all I think it’s the perfect place to come.”

For more information on the Mount Beauty Writers Festival, visit https://www.mountbeautywritersfestival.com/line-up.