Paul Dufficy is Stereo Stories’ Sydney correspondent, filing stories about his varied life and always spreading the word about our website stories and our concerts. He even timed a visit to Melbourne in 2025 to coincide with our show at Williamstown that year.
He has just published his memoir, Fingers Crossed, Stories from The Road to Becoming (Hembury Books).
As a young Irish Catholic boy growing up in suburban Sydney, Paul’s world was shaped as much by the rigours of boarding school as by dreams of life beyond the familiar.
Those dreams carried him across Asia—from bustling cities and remote villages to classrooms in Japan and, improbably, the jungles of the Philippines during the filming of Apocalypse Now. Along the way he found lifelong friendships, unexpected mentors, moments of danger, and a soundtrack that never stopped playing. (He’s a big Rory Gallagher fan.)
But beneath the travel, humour and adventure lies a deeper story.
Fingers Crossed is about the slow, untidy process of becoming a man—and, more importantly, becoming a good person. It is a story shaped not by certainty or bravado, but by love, loss, faith, doubt and the quiet determination to keep moving forward. It asks what survives when youthful dreams collide with reality, and how curiosity, kindness and resilience can triumph over fear and regret.
These stories offer no easy answers. Instead, they celebrate the unexpected lessons found on the roads we travel and the remarkable people who quietly change us along the way.
The book is available via Amazon.
You can learn more about Paul in the 30 minute interview that doubles as a virtual book launch. (He talks about Rory Gallagher from the 17 minute mark and being an extra on Apocalypse Now from the 23 minute mark.)
Congratulations, Paul!

 

It's taken a bit but the cracker memoir from Paul called 'Fingers Crossed' is finally finished.Instagram: @fingerscrossedmemoirSpotify: Fingers Crossed Memoir - Chapter Playlist/Paul Dufficy grew up in Australia but has lived and worked for extensive periods in Japan, Indonesia, Pakistan and Thailand. He writes about music, travel and other things that catch his interest. To support his writing he leads a Sydney walking tour with a focus on art and architecture. Paul is the creator of the new blog SoJournal. (Contributions welcome!)