By Clare BruceTuesday 30 May 2017Guests and ArtistsReading Time: 2 minutes
Listen: Singer and now children’s author Harrison Craig chats to Hope 103.2’s Katrina Roe.
When the baby-faced, smooth-voiced teen Harrison Craig won TV talent show The Voice in 2013, it was a dream come true on so many levels.
Harrison had famously had to battle his stutter, even to make it onto The Voice stage. When he spoke, TV audiences watched as his stutter held him back. But when he sang, his stutter disappeared and he was king.
Now, after three albums and three world tours, Harrison is launching something completely different—his own children’s book, Harrison’s Song, telling the story of how he discovered his singing talent, and how it set his voice free. He wrote it to help encourage children to overcome their own life challenges. In a chat with Hope 103.2’s Katrina Roe, in which his stutter can barely be detected, Harrison recalls being bullied in primary school because of his disability.
“I was made to feel a lot like an outcast,” he said. “As a child I didn’t know how to cope with all of that.”
Multi-talented: Harrison Craig in the studio, and his new book.
Having found the strength to push past the criticism and bullying, the now-22-year-old wants to tell others that they can do the same.
“It’s a crazy world so we need to prop everyone up as much as we can,” he said. “I really wanted to share with the world and I guess children around Australia, my own hurdles that I’ve needed to jump, and explain through my story that it doesn’t matter what your hurdles or challenges are, you can live your dream,” he said. “Run after it.
Harrison, who is something of a perfectionist “driven by the smallest, tiniest little details”, has worked hard to make his book – like his albums – top class. It’s beautifully illustrated by Ann-Marie Finn, and published by Wombat Books.
Harrison said winning The Voice is still up there with his great life experiences and is still fresh in his mind even though it’s now four years ago.
“I feel so lucky that I was there on that launch pad,” he said.
Harrison’s Song is out on June 1 and Harrison is doing talks at schools as part of the promotion for his new book.