It wasn’t until his late teens that Liam Adams learnt to read and write, but now the 23-year-old has self-published five sci-fantasy-comedy novels.

Liam is on the autism spectrum and has an intellectual disability, two things he says saw him struggle during school. 

But after meeting celebrated cartoonist Andrew Hoare, Liam began further developing his stories. 

He says: “It’s quite a massive and quite unexpected journey because mostly, I’ve always been a massive storyteller, but I would never imagine that I would read and write, but easily the reading part was impossible for me when I was growing up because I couldn’t read things, I was having struggles.

“But it was mostly a friend of mine that really encouraged me, because there was some certain book series that I was interested in checking out, that he seemed to be talking all about, and that got me really interested and that’s why I forced myself to try to read a book and all that.

“And then the writing side of things, mostly it was just a tool I used because I’ve done many assignments from my last year of school and I think I used that skill to develop my own stories afterwards. 

“And, I don’t know, it just came to this unexpected turn because it was around that time where, I’ve been trying to volunteer to many different jobs and all that and no one was giving me a go, and my mum thought we should start a little business because all the amazing stories are great.”

He started his business – Everyone Needs a Liam – in August 2022. His mum and editor, Jenny Adams, described the whole thing as “snowballing” into something truly spectacular. 

She says: “He was a very late speaker and a very late reader and writer, he didn’t end up reading until he was about 15, and I didn’t think he was able to use a laptop and so I didn’t actually get him a laptop until he started writing stories on his father’s computer.

“His father had a really old-fashioned computer, and I thought, well, if you’re writing stories on that… then he was off like a rocket.

“I would see him writing all these amazing stories, and the first one I read, I didn’t think it was very good, but then after that, I thought, hang on, no, no, there’s something here.”

Liam also works part-time at SpecSavers as a welcome person, and he says they have been incredibly supportive, never hesitating to give him time off to take his novels to SuperNova Comic Con & Gaming in Sydney, and the Oz Comic Con in Canberra, Melbourne and Brisbane. 

Last year, he was even a speaker at the Adelaide Fringe Festival, and was awarded a Weekly Award for Emerging Artist. 

Jenny says: “Everything just went off, and it’s very surprising how well and successful this has become.”

“When I edit the spelling and grammar, I deliberately don’t change the way Liam writes because it’s authentic and beautiful in its own right. 

“And I’m not the best editor either, so the books do have mistakes in them, but that’s part of the interest, people don’t mind that.”

Incredibly, Jenny says that through support from grants and a lot of hard work, they have broken even on sales, and next year hope to see Liam making some profit.

During his time at the Adelaide Fringe Festival, Liam says he was invited to speak to some students who were also on the spectrum about his journey to becoming an author, with his key words of wisdom being “just give it a go”.

He says: “If you’re very interested in doing what you want to do, just absolutely try it.”

“Because for me, like, I gave these things a go, and it really pushed me, like, I’ve tried getting into reading, and then, of course, I’m now reading. 

“And then I, of course, love getting into storytelling, so I’ve started doing my own storytelling, and then, of course, writing, and then it got me to this point. 

“So it’s just, again, trying to push yourself to do what you really want to do, and just don’t be afraid to do it.” 

Buy books from everyoneneedsaliam.com.au