Author Spotlight: Keith Paulusse, author of “Big Bunches At The Jam Factory”
Keith Paulusse, author of self-help books such as Big Bunches At The Jam Factory, is a former entrepreneur and publisher with expertise in social psychology.
Keith has been an advocate of social justice and a staunch defender of disadvantaged Australians.
As part of that commitment, he has run a School of Languages for the past decade without charging tuition fees to students. The school offers an English language course to migrants, including refugees and international students.
His book, Big Bunches At The Jam Factory: We Are Only Dead If We Are Forgotten, published by Author Reputation Press, recounts the journey of young gay men, their loved ones, and families who all turned his South Yarra flower shop, Big Bunches, into a vibrant community of optimists during the dark days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s.
In addition, the book chronicles Paulusse’s own physical and emotional travels all throughout that challenging period, from San Francisco to the bedsides of dying friends back in Melbourne.
In 2015, Keith published his first book, Vertrek, which narrated the journey of his and other Dutch families in postwar Australia. He has also written articles about Dutch innovations and his experience under the care of his parents who suffered from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Keith was born in the city of Terneuzen, Zeeland, in the Netherlands. He migrated to Australia at 11 and left school at 13 to work at an Australian butter factory. Then he became a postman at age 15 and completed his secondary education by working and studying part-time.
Keith took a course in social science majoring in psychology at Deakin University, also part-time. He currently lives in a coastal town in Victoria.
