It is said that sometimes a person needs to "reach the very bottom to start climbing up." This is exactly the situation with Australian writer David Roberts, who found himself at the very bottom of society due to his addiction to hard drugs.
His life battered him so badly that another person could not stand it, but Roberts not only survived - he wrote a book about his misadventures and became a famous writer and screenwriter, was nominated for several literary awards.
Biography
The full name of the writer is Gregory David Roberts. However, this is his pseudonym, and his real name is Gregory John Peter Smith. He was born in 1952 in an ordinary Australian family living in Melbourne. From childhood, David was distinguished by an independent character, willfulness and rebelliousness.
Perhaps that is why his fate was so unusual. Nothing is known about education and work before Roberts' prison. In one interview, he said that he began writing very early, and sold his first story when he was sixteen years old.
David was married and has a daughter. When his wife left David, he was very worried and began to take drugs.
He had no money for this expensive pleasure, and he got it by robbery. In Australia, he "became famous" as a "gentleman bandit" because he was extremely polite to those whom he robbed. As he himself later said in an interview, he thereby wanted to smooth out the unpleasant sensations experienced by the robbed. At the same time, he threatened people with a toy pistol. And also in the thieves' biography of David there is one interesting fact: he robbed only those organizations that were insured against theft. So really - a gentleman.
So Roberts existed until 1978, when he was sentenced to nineteen years in prison. And here he did the almost impossible: in broad daylight he escaped from the cell, through New Zealand he moved to India and lived there for ten years. Seeing the splendor and poverty of this country, he was captivated by its diversity and color. However, life there was also not easy, so David did what he had to do: for example, he traded in weapons.
In India, he also sat in prison, but not for long - he was bought off by friends, arms dealers. After Mumbai, he visited Afghanistan, where he was also associated with weapons. Then he moved to Germany, to Frankfurt, where he was again arrested by Interpol and sent to Australia to serve his sentence.
Writing career
It is not known what prompted the former prisoner to write the book - after all, he was not a professional writer. However, he describes the process of his creativity so colorfully that any writer will envy.
The very first and most famous novel by Roberts is called Shantaram. It was published in Russian in 2016, and the first edition of the novel in English was published in 2003.
David began writing his work during his second imprisonment. He was then put in a prison for terrorists, and he thought that there was nowhere for him to roll further down the slope, and was determined to take the path of correction. He thought about his life, about the people who met on his way, about their destinies and his own destiny.
That is why there are so many philosophical thoughts and reflections in Shantaram. Translated from Hindi, “shantaram” means “peaceful person”. Apparently, at that time, David had a strong craving for a quiet life that he called the main character that name.
He wrote his manuscript, and the prison guards took the sheets covered with writing and burned them. Roberts had to start all over again. He wrote the novel for six years, and after prison, and described this process as very interesting.
The writer created a whole wall dedicated to his heroes, and supplemented it with various details that would describe their characters, paint their portraits and their surroundings. Sometimes he even turned on music to create an entourage. And when everything was ready, he began to write, without stopping and almost without leaving the house.
After its release, the novel gained great popularity, and many film studios wanted to buy the rights to film it. As a result, Anonymous Content and Paramount became the acquirers of the rights. And then they also became the copyright holders of Roberts' new novel - "Shadow of the Mountain", which was published in 2015.
Roberts himself took part in writing the script for films based on his novels.
Personal life
After the publication of the first book, David's life changed dramatically, as did his own attitude towards life. His interests include such topics as human rights, environmental protection, charity, hunger and the problems of the poor.
In 2014, he announced that he had ended his social life, where he had to attend parties, presentations, writers' meetings and other events. Roberts said that he wants to be more creative and more often to be close to loved ones, which he has been deprived of for many years.
He developed a relationship with his matured daughter, but said that he would not tell anyone in the world about this, because it is very personal.
His favorite place of residence is the city of Mumbai in India, where he left after imprisonment and where he finished his novel. Here the writer became one of the founders of the Hope for India Center, and then the president of the foundation of the same name.
Since 2009, he has been working with the Zeitz Foundation, which deals with the preservation and improvement of ecosystems, as well as the issues of clean water and air.
Roberts has a fiance - an employee of the Hope for India Foundation Françoise Steurds, they are engaged.
Now the writer is working on new works.
