Robert Forster is the Renaissance man of contemporary rock ‘n’ roll. An acclaimed singer-songwriter and former music critic, Forster can now add author to his résumé. His debut novel, Songwriters on the Run, is a terrific tale of two fading rock stars at the turn of the 1990s doing just that.

Then, of course, there is Forster’s day job, which sees him hitting the road in September for concerts around the country with his acclaimed “Swedish band”. The outfit earned a lot of praise for gigs throughout the UK and Europe, but this is the first time the group will tour Australia. They’ll be out on the road performing songs from Forster’s most recent album, Strawberries, alongside old favourites.

Over four decades Forster has been one of Australia’s most revered songwriters, first with The Go-Betweens and later as a solo artist, while also carving out a respected second career as a music journalist and memoirist. Fiction, it turns out, was the next logical step.

The seeds of Songwriters on the Run stretch back to a song he wrote in 2009. The three-verse composition imagined two songwriters escaping prison.

“It was about two songwriters breaking out of jail and, because it was only three verses, I started wondering why they were on the run, how they’d ended up in prison and what happened before the song began,” explains Forster on my back deck nursing a cup of Earl Grey.

“I didn’t think there was a novel there at first. It became a sort of mind game that I played with myself over a number of years until, when I finally decided I wanted to write fiction, I already had a plot. After more than 20 years writing memoir, criticism and liner notes, I simply wanted to make something up.”

Rather than announcing he was writing a novel or signing a publishing deal, Forster kept the project almost entirely to himself. There were no deadlines, no contracts and very little outside expectation.

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‘I was still making records and touring, so I’d disappear from the manuscript for months at a time’

“I did exactly the opposite of what most people do. I didn’t tell anyone because I didn’t want the pressure. I never said I was writing a novel. I told people I was ‘writing a story’, and somehow that made it feel less intimidating. I was still making records and touring, so I’d disappear from the manuscript for months at a time, then come back and read my way back into the world. It was slow, but every draft got a little better, and that kept me going.”

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Set in 1991, the novel follows two musicians whose glory days appear to be behind them just as a new musical era begins to emerge. Although the spectre of grunge hovers over the story, Forster was less interested in documenting a changing industry than exploring the mythology that surrounds musicians and songwriting itself.

“It’s set right at the beginning of the ’90s because these are two musicians in their early 30s who’ve already had their big run during the ’80s,” he explains. “They’re asking themselves whether this is their last chance.

songs matter more than trends. It’s a philosophy that underpins both the novel and his career

“I wanted to write about that world because rock ‘n’ roll is built on myth as much as reality. There’s the hard work of writing songs and surviving in the music business, but wrapped around that are dreams, stories, fantasy and escape. That was the part I had the most fun writing.”

Although readers will inevitably search for autobiographical clues, Forster says he deliberately avoided making either of his protagonists stand-ins for himself or his late Go-Betweens partner Grant McLennan. Instead, he borrowed fragments from life while allowing the characters to become entirely their own people.

That same instinct — to keep moving creatively rather than looking backwards — also informs his current musical chapter.

Recorded in Stockholm with musicians he’d first met almost a decade ago, Strawberries reunited Forster with a band that immediately clicked.

“I’m really proud we’re finally bringing this band to Australia,” he says. “We recorded Strawberries in Stockholm, toured Europe and the UK. They don’t just play the new songs beautifully — they’ve found something in the older material as well.

“I wanted Australian audiences to see another side of what I do because I haven’t toured here with a full band since 2019. The whole two-hour show flows naturally from The Go-Betweens through the solo records and into Strawberries. It all feels very organic.”

Spend half an hour talking to Forster and one theme continually resurfaces – songs matter more than trends. It’s a philosophy that underpins both the novel and his career.

“Rock ‘n’ roll is a songwriting contest. You can break music down into indie bands, mainstream bands, fashionable bands or forgotten bands, but in the end it’s whoever has the best songs who wins,” says Forster.

“Look at Nirvana. They had the songs. Look at INXS. They had the songs. Radio has always revolved around songs, not haircuts or image. If you’ve got great songs, you’ve always got a chance.”

There’s a symmetry to where Forster finds himself in 2026. By day he’s introducing readers to two fictional songwriters chasing one last shot at greatness; by night he’s back on stage reminding audiences why his own songs have endured for so long.

Robert Forster – An Evening with Robert Forster & His Swedish Band play the Princess Theatre, Brisbane, September 17.

frontiertouring.com/robertforster

Songs on the Run by Robert Forster, Penguin, $34.99.

penguin.com.au/books/songwriters-on-the-run-9780143777731