Alice Pung Explained

Birth Place:Footscray, Victoria, Australia
Nationality:Australian
Education:University of Melbourne
Notableworks:Growing Up Asian in Australia
Unpolished Gem
Awards:Non-Fiction Prize in the 2011 Western Australian Book Awards; Australian Newcomer of the Year in the 2007 Australian Book Industry Awards

Alice Pung (born 1981) is an Australian writer, editor and lawyer. Her books include the memoirs Unpolished Gem (2006),[1] [2] [3] Her Father's Daughter (2011) and the novel Laurinda (2014).

Pung is a practising solicitor. She has also worked as an art instructor, independent school teacher at primary and secondary schools, and is Artist in Residence at Janet Clarke Hall at the University of Melbourne.[4]

Life

Pung was born to ethnic Teochew Chinese parents from Cambodia. Fleeing the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge, her parents sought asylum in Australia in 1980.[5] [6] Pung was named Alice after the protagonist of Alice in Wonderland, because her father saw Australia as a wonderland.[5] [7] She was born in the suburb of Footscray in Melbourne and grew up in Braybrook.[8]

Pung attended five Melbourne schools,[9] including the Catholic junior girls school Christ the King College in Braybrook (now the junior girls campus of Caroline Chisholm Catholic College), Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School, and Mac.Robertson Girls' High School. Pung studied law at the University of Melbourne and works as a legal analyst.[10]

Writing career

Pung's first book, Unpolished Gem, won the 2007 Newcomer of the Year Award in the Australian Book Industry Awards.[11] Her follow-up memoir, Her Father's Daughter, was published in 2011.[12]

Her first book for young adults, Laurinda, was published in 2014. It was adapted for an American audience in 2016,[13] and a collection of high school students' stories inspired by the novel was published in 2016. Pung has also written the Marly books for the Our Australian Girl children's series.

Pung attended the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa as a resident in 2009.[14] She is a regular writer for The Monthly on topics such as race discrimination, class, cultural stereotypes, and experiences of living in Melbourne, Victoria.[15]

In November 2020, the Melbourne Theatre Company announced that it will adapt Pung's novel, Laurinda, for the stage.[16]

Bibliography

Books

Articles

Critical studies and reviews of Pung's work

Her Father's Daughter (2011)

Growing Up Asian in Australia (editor, 2008)

Unpolished Gem (2006)

Awards and recognition

In the 2022 Australia Day Honours Pung was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to literature.[24]

Unpolished Gem

Her Father's Daughter

Laurinda

One Hundred Days

Millie Mak the Maker

External links

Notes and References

  1. 1 December 2008 . Unpolished Gem . Booklist Online . Booklist . 15 May 2017.
  2. 15 October 2008 . Unpolished Gem . Kirkus Reviews . Kirkus . 15 May 2017.
  3. News: Walker . Brenda . September 2011 . 'Her Father's Daughter' by Alice Pung . Australia . 15 May 2017.
  4. Web site: Janet Clarke Hall – University of Melbourne – Tutors and Students . www.jch.unimelb.edu.au . 28 November 2016.
  5. Alice Pung . 25 April 2017 . Conversations with Richard Fidler . van Extel . Cathy . ABC . 5 November 2014 . en.
  6. Web site: Interview with Alice . 8 February 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100920014650/http://alicepung.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/interview_with_alice_pung.pdf . 20 September 2010 . dead . dmy-all.
  7. News: Pung . Alice . 7 December 2016 . Living With Racism in Australia . The New York Times . 25 April 2017.
  8. Web site: Ms Alice Pung – Events at The University of Melbourne . events.unimelb.edu.au . 25 April 2017.
  9. News: Neill . Rosemary . 8 November 2014 . Alice Pung recalls high school's hard lessons in first novel Laurinda . The Australian . 25 April 2017.
  10. News: Felicity Nelson . 'The law doesn't inspire me': author, lawyer Alice Pung . Lawyers Weekly . 2015-11-03 . 2023-04-18 .
  11. Web site: History . Australian Book Industry Awards . 25 April 2017 . Newcomer of the Year: Unpolished Gem by Alice Pung . https://web.archive.org/web/20150731235003/http://abiawards.com.au/history/ . 31 July 2015 . dead . dmy-all.
  12. Web site: Her Father's Daughter . Penguin Books Australia . penguin.com.au . 28 November 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161128195456/https://penguin.com.au/books/her-fathers-daughter-9781863955904 . 28 November 2016 . dead.
  13. Book: Pung, Alice . 2016 . Lucy and Linh . New York . Penguin Random House . 978-0-399-55048-5.
  14. Web site: Alice PUNG The International Writing Program. iwp.uiowa.edu. 28 November 2016.
  15. Web site: Alice Pung . 2013-12-20 . The Monthly . 2019-09-06.
  16. Web site: 2020-11-27 . MTC to adapt Pung's 'Laurinda' . 2020-12-01 . Books+Publishing . en-AU.
  17. Web site: Unpolished Gem by Alice Pung . penguin.com.au . Penguin Books Australia . 15 May 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161128195608/https://penguin.com.au/books/unpolished-gem-9781863951586 . 28 November 2016 . dead.
  18. Web site: Laurinda by Alice Pung . penguin.com.au . Penguin Books Australia . 15 May 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161128195658/https://penguin.com.au/books/laurinda-9781863956925 . 28 November 2016 . dead.
  19. Web site: My First Lesson . penguin.com.au . Penguin Books Australia . 15 May 2017.
  20. Web site: On John Marsden: Writers on Writers . penguin.com.au . Penguin Books Australia . 15 May 2017.
  21. Web site: On John Marsden by Alice Pung . Black Inc. Books Australia . Black Inc. Books . 15 May 2017.
  22. Web site: Wong . Yen-Rong . June 2021 . Yen-Rong Wong reviews 'One Hundred Days' by Alice Pung . live . 2021-07-30 . Australian Book Review . en-gb . https://web.archive.org/web/20210601005620/https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/current-issue/964-june-2021-no-432/7850-yen-rong-wong-reviews-one-hundred-days-by-alice-pung . 1 June 2021.
  23. Web site: 2024-08-15 . Prime Minister’s Literary Awards 2024 shortlists announced . 2024-08-15 . Books+Publishing.
  24. Web site: 2022-01-26 . Australia Day Honours List . 2022-01-25 . The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia.
  25. News: Sullivan . Jane . 20 August 2011 . Memories of relative unease . The Sydney Morning Herald . 25 April 2017.
  26. Web site: Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2012 . The Wheeler Centre . 2016-11-28.
  27. Web site: 2012 – Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction . 24 September 2015 . www.sl.nsw.gov.au . 2016-11-28.
  28. Web site: Winners announced for 2016 NSW Premier's Literary Awards . 16 May 2016 . www.sl.nsw.gov.au . 2016-11-28.
  29. Web site: Harmon . Steph . 2022-06-23 . Miles Franklin 2022: shortlist revealed for Australia's prestigious literary prize . 2022-06-23 . The Guardian . en.
  30. Web site: 2022-11-04 . Short List 2022 . 2022-11-04 . The Voss Literary Prize . en.
  31. Web site: 2024-08-15 . Prime Minister’s Literary Awards 2024 shortlists announced . 2024-08-15 . Books+Publishing.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Alice Pung".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.