Tigest Girma: ‘I was like – Hey, do you want black vampires? And they were like

D ocklands critics have long called Melbourne’s port turned waterside suburb soulless. But for Tigest Girma it’s where her seductive ideas about vampires, university drama and Ethiopian mythology percolate.

When characters for Girma’s bestselling fantasy books aren’t “doing what I want them to do” she comes down to the water for a break and imagines the scene from their perspective. “The calming water can spark ideas for me sometimes when I’m really stuck,” she says as we begin our late-afternoon stroll.

We meet on a temperamental spring day at the Library at the Dock, overlooking the water glistening in the sun. Towards the city skyline, looming grey clouds appear to be picking up pace. “I swear it is about to rain,” Girma says.

Her conversational tone is breezy and laid-back. During