Trent Dalton shot to international fame with his debut novel Boy Swallows Universe. A stage adaptation promptly sold out in Brisbane. Now his 2021 book Love Stories will take to the boards at this year’s Brisbane Festival. Jane Albert discovers how the production came about and why audiences are so moved by Dalton’s writing.

Actors Michala Banas and Jason Klarwein, who play the wife and husband in Love Stories, together with Trent Dalton and Fiona Franzmann.
Actors Michala Banas and Jason Klarwein, who play the wife and husband in Love Stories, together with Trent Dalton and Fiona Franzmann. Photo © Lyndon Mechielsen

It was an early summer evening in December 2021 and Trent Dalton and his wife Fiona Franzmann were enjoying a much-needed break together in Burleigh Heads, south of...