Daniel Herborn

Daniel Herborn writes from Sydney across journalism, criticism, and fiction, with a close interest in music and Australian culture. You’re the Kind of Girl I Write Songs About, published by HarperCollins Australia in 2015, is his teen novel about Tim and Mandy. Tim is a teenage singer-songwriter seeking an audience, while Mandy follows bands and imagines a more purposeful life beyond her stalled routine. Their meeting at a gig develops through cafés, pubs, rehearsal spaces, mixtapes, and the independent music scene of Sydney’s Inner West. Alternating perspectives let Herborn examine not only first attraction but also creative ambition, anxiety, friendship, and the identities young people build through taste. His nonfiction has appeared in Australian newspapers, magazines, and literary publications. You’re the Kind of Girl I Write Songs About brings that cultural observation into a musical growing-up story, treating songs as social signals and unfinished emotional records rather than using music merely as background decoration.