The Best Australian Yarn: How Logie-winning actor Joel Jackson found solace in writing Tell Me How It Ends

Award-winning actor Joel Jackson has added another string to his bow, securing a spot on the longlist for The Best Australian Yarn, the world’s richest short story competition. His entry, Tell Me How It Ends, a poignant exploration of grief, puts him in contention for the $50,000 main prize. The Logie and Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts award winner is best known for his acclaimed portrayal in the biographical miniseries Peter Allen: Not The Boy Next Door, but has harboured a passion for writing since his early days in Karratha. “I’ve always been writing short stories, even during downtime in trailers between shoots,” Jackson, the 2011 young Australian of the year for North WA, said. His nominated story draws from personal experience, specifically the loss of his grandmother. “She was always my best friend,” he said. “Wherever I was in the world, I’d send her scripts and she’d read along with me. I’d skip cast parties to call her on weekends and talk about what we shot that week.” The story follows twin brothers processing their grandmother’s death in distinctly different ways — a narrative device Jackson used to explore his own grieving process. “You could see that she was there watching over you,” he said. “I thought, ‘what if there were two people inside of you that dealt with these things very differently?’. It was more or less me trying to get stuff out of my own heart and settle my own sense of loss.” For Jackson, writing has enhanced his approach to acting. “It has made me more economical as an actor,” he said. “I can say, ‘we don’t need that dialogue, we can do that with an action, with a look’. Because it’s one thing to write a story, but it’s another thing to show a story.” Currently based in WA (“Mate, why would you live anywhere else?”), Jackson sees himself as part of a rich storytelling tradition. “We have some of the best and most recognised storytellers in our country and around the world,” he said. “Tim Winton is such a defined voice of WA, and we’ve got incredible filmmakers like Jub Clerc.” Making the Best Australian Yarn’s top 50 came as a welcome surprise, especially because the competition received a record-breaking 6000 entries this year, cementing its place as the most popular short story competition in Australia. “I expected it to be a ‘thank you, but no thanks’,” Jackson said. “When I saw the congratulations, it was pure elation. I really hope that it gives me a chance to write more.” Jackson is already working on his next literary venture, a children’s book he described as “an ode to rough seas”, following an old fisherman sharing tales of his seven years at sea with a troubled young boy. His ultimate ambition extends beyond the page. “The dream goal is to be able to write, produce and star in international works that we make in and around Western Australia,” he said. The winners of The Best Australian Yarn 2024 will be announced at an awards ceremony on November 22 at the State Library of Western Australia.