Her writing has appeared in the Monthly, the Age, and The Best Australian Stories and The Best Alice's most recent adult novel, One Hundred Days, was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin and Voss literary awards.Īlice also edited the collections Growing Up Asian in Australia and My First Lesson. Alice's YA book Laurinda won the NSW Premiers Award Ethel Turner Prize in 2016, and was been shortlisted for numerous otherĪwards. Literary awards and the Queensland Literary Awards. It was published in the UK and USA in separate editions and has been translated into several languages including Italian, German andĪlice’s next book, Her Father’s Daughter, won the Western Australia Premier’s Award for Non-Fiction and was shortlisted for the Victorian and NSW Premiers’ In the Victorian and NSW Premiers’ Literary awards. Taught her how to pay attention to the quiet children and young adults that others might overlook or miss.Īlice Pung’s first book, Unpolished Gem, is an Australian bestseller which won the Australian Book Industry Newcomer of the Year Award and was shortlisted

Regime - named her after Lewis Carroll’s character because after surviving the Killing Fields, he thought Australia was a Wonderland.Īlice grew up in Footscray and Braybrook, and changed high schools five times - almost once every year! These experiences have shaped her as a writer because they Alice’s father, Kuan - a survivor of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge “A candid and powerful exploration of family, culture and class … it is those of us who take our fortune and privilege for granted that I wish would read this powerful book.Alice was born in Footscray, Victoria, a month after her parents Kuan and Kien arrived in Australia. “Exquisitely sharp” - Books of the Year, the Age “Biting yet compassionate” - Books of the Year, Australian Book Review “In her debut novel successfully dramatizes the high stakes when an impoverished Chinese girl is parachuted into the private system… Pung’s forceful writing reveals the diverse and often difficult lives of her immigrant compatriots too often hidden away from us by masks of discretion.” - the Age “Pung continues to impress with her nuanced storytelling Laurinda will surely resonate with anyone who remembers the cliquey, hierarchical nature of the playground.” - Sunday Age Pung tackles big issues with a light touch.” - Herald Sun “Schoolgirl Lucy Lam was one of this year’s best characters – smart, hardworking and brave. “Based loosely on Pung’s own experiences, the book has an unmissable ring of truth to it, making it all the more compelling and horrifying.” - the Sydney Morning Herald Funny, horrifying, and sharp as a serpent’s fangs.' - John Marsden 'Alice Pung totally nails it with Laurinda.

Laurinda by Alice Pung