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Alice Pung

{{short description|Australian writer, editor and lawyer}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}

{{Infobox writer

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=AUS|OAM|size=100}}

| image = Alice Pung on Ubud Writers & Readers Festival 2012.jpg

| caption = Pung in 2012

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1981}}

| birth_place = Footscray, Victoria, Australia

| death_date =

| death_place =

| nationality = Australian

| education = University of Melbourne

| signature =

| signature_alt =

| 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

| website = {{URL|alicepung.net}}

}}

Alice Pung {{post-nominals|country=AUS|OAM}} (born 1981{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}) is an Australian writer, editor and lawyer. Her books include the memoirs Unpolished Gem (2006),{{cite magazine |date=1 December 2008 |title=Unpolished Gem |url=http://booklistonline.com/Unpolished-Gem-Alice-Pung/pid=2938982 |magazine=Booklist Online |publisher=Booklist |access-date=15 May 2017}}

{{cite magazine |date=15 October 2008 |title=Unpolished Gem |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/alice-pung/unpolished-gem/ |magazine=Kirkus Reviews |publisher=Kirkus |access-date=15 May 2017}}{{cite news |last=Sullivan |first=Jane |date=20 August 2011 |title=Memories of relative unease |url=http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/memories-of-relative-unease-20110819-1j20v.html |access-date=25 April 2017 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald}}{{cite news |last=Walker |first=Brenda |date=September 2011 |title='Her Father's Daughter' by Alice Pung |url=https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2011/september/1314947772/brenda-walker/her-father-s-daughter-alice-pung |location=Australia |access-date=15 May 2017}} 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.{{Cite web |url=http://www.jch.unimelb.edu.au/tutors.html |title=Janet Clarke Hall – University of Melbourne – Tutors and Students |website=www.jch.unimelb.edu.au |access-date=28 November 2016}}

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.{{Cite episode |title=Alice Pung |url=http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/conversations/alice-pung/5866132 |access-date=25 April 2017 |series=Conversations with Richard Fidler |first=van Extel |last=Cathy |network=ABC |date=5 November 2014 |language=en}}{{Cite web |url=http://alicepung.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/interview_with_alice_pung.pdf |title=Interview with Alice |access-date=8 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100920014650/http://alicepung.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/interview_with_alice_pung.pdf |archive-date=20 September 2010 |url-status=usurped |df=dmy-all}} Pung was named Alice after the protagonist of Alice in Wonderland, because her father saw Australia as a wonderland.{{cite news |last=Pung |first=Alice |date=7 December 2016 |title=Living With Racism in Australia |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/07/opinion/living-with-racism-in-australia.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=25 April 2017}} She was born in the suburb of Footscray in Melbourne and grew up in Braybrook.{{Cite web |url=https://events.unimelb.edu.au/presenters/220-ms-alice-pung |title=Ms Alice Pung – Events at The University of Melbourne |website=events.unimelb.edu.au |access-date=25 April 2017}}

Pung attended five Melbourne schools,{{cite news |last=Neill |first=Rosemary |date=8 November 2014 |title=Alice Pung recalls high school's hard lessons in first novel Laurinda |url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/alice-pung-recalls-high-schools-hard-lessons-in-first-novel-laurinda/news-story/622d7d9fb76a4a1e88f270b44443c2e3 |work=The Australian |access-date=25 April 2017}} 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.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}} Pung studied law at the University of Melbourne{{citation needed|date=April 2023}} and works as a legal analyst.{{cite news |author=Felicity Nelson |agency= |title='The law doesn't inspire me': author, lawyer Alice Pung |url=https://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/newlaw/17429-i-can-t-lie-the-law-doesn-t-inspire-me-author-lawyer-alice-pung |quote= |newspaper=Lawyers Weekly |date=2015-11-03 |access-date=2023-04-18 }}

Writing career

Pung's first book, Unpolished Gem, won the 2007 Newcomer of the Year Award in the Australian Book Industry Awards.{{cite web |url=http://abiawards.com.au/history/ |title=History |publisher=Australian Book Industry Awards |access-date=25 April 2017 |quote=Newcomer of the Year: Unpolished Gem by Alice Pung |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150731235003/http://abiawards.com.au/history/ |archive-date=31 July 2015 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all}} Her follow-up memoir, Her Father's Daughter, was published in 2011.{{Cite web |url=https://penguin.com.au/books/her-fathers-daughter-9781863955904 |title=Her Father's Daughter |publisher=Penguin Books Australia |website=penguin.com.au |access-date=28 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128195456/https://penguin.com.au/books/her-fathers-daughter-9781863955904 |archive-date=28 November 2016 |url-status=dead}}

Her first book for young adults, Laurinda, was published in 2014. It was adapted for an American audience in 2016,{{cite book |last=Pung |first=Alice |date=2016 |title=Lucy and Linh |location=New York |publisher=Penguin Random House |isbn=978-0-399-55048-5}} 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.{{Cite web |url=https://iwp.uiowa.edu/writers/alice-pung |title=Alice PUNG {{!}} The International Writing Program|website=iwp.uiowa.edu|access-date=28 November 2016}} She is a regular writer for The Monthly on topics such as race discrimination, class, cultural stereotypes, and experiences of living in Melbourne, Victoria.{{Cite web |url=https://www.themonthly.com.au/author/alice-pung |title=Alice Pung |date=2013-12-20 |website=The Monthly |access-date=2019-09-06}}

In November 2020, the Melbourne Theatre Company announced that it will adapt Pung's novel, Laurinda, for the stage.{{Cite web |date=2020-11-27 |title=MTC to adapt Pung's 'Laurinda' |url=https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2020/11/27/160246/mtc-to-adapt-pungs-laurinda/ |access-date=2020-12-01 |website=Books+Publishing |language=en-AU}}

Awards and recognition

In the 2022 Australia Day Honours Pung was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to literature.{{Cite web |date=2022-01-26 |title=Australia Day Honours List |url=https://www.gg.gov.au/sites/default/files/2022-01/ad22_gazette_-_o_of_a.pdf |access-date=2022-01-25 |website=The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia}}

=''Unpolished Gem''=

  • Winner of the Australian Newcomer of the Year award in the 2007 Australian Book Industry Awards
  • Shortlisted in the Australian Biography of the Year and Australian Book of the Year in the 2007 Australian Book Industry Awards
  • Shortlisted in the 2007 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards
  • Shortlisted in the 2007 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards
  • Shortlisted in the 2007 The Age Book of the Year Awards
  • Shortlisted for the 2006 Colin Roderick Award
  • Shortlisted for the 2007 The Westfield/Waverley Library Award for Literature

=''Her Father's Daughter''=

  • Winner of the Non-Fiction Prize in the 2011 Western Australian Book Awards
  • Shortlisted in the 2012 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards{{Cite web |title=Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2012 |url=http://www.wheelercentre.com/projects/victorian-premier-s-literary-awards-2012 |access-date=2016-11-28 |website=The Wheeler Centre}}
  • Shortlisted in the 2012 NSW Premier's Literary Awards{{Cite web |date=24 September 2015 |title=2012 – Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction |url=http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/content/2012-douglas-stewart-prize-0 |access-date=2016-11-28 |website=www.sl.nsw.gov.au}}
  • Shortlisted in the 2012 Queensland Literary Awards

=''Laurinda''=

  • 2016 Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature (NSW Premier's Literary Awards){{Cite web |date=16 May 2016 |title=Winners announced for 2016 NSW Premier's Literary Awards |url=http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/winners-announced-2016-nsw-premiers-literary-awards |access-date=2016-11-28 |website=www.sl.nsw.gov.au}}

= ''One Hundred Days'' =

  • Shortlisted in the 2022 Miles Franklin Award{{Cite web |last=Harmon |first=Steph |date=2022-06-23 |title=Miles Franklin 2022: shortlist revealed for Australia's prestigious literary prize |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jun/23/miles-franklin-2022-shortlist-revealed-for-australias-prestigious-literary-prize |access-date=2022-06-23 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}
  • Shortlisted for the 2022 Voss Literary Prize{{Cite web |date=2022-11-04 |title=Short List 2022 |url=https://vossliteraryprize.com/short-list-2022/ |access-date=2022-11-04 |website=The Voss Literary Prize |language=en}}

= ''Millie Mak the Maker'' =

Bibliography

{{Incomplete list|date=January 2019}}

=Books=

  • Unpolished Gem. (Black Inc., 2006){{cite web |url=https://penguin.com.au/books/unpolished-gem-9781863951586 |title=Unpolished Gem by Alice Pung |website=penguin.com.au |publisher=Penguin Books Australia |access-date=15 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128195608/https://penguin.com.au/books/unpolished-gem-9781863951586 |archive-date=28 November 2016 |url-status=dead}}
  • Growing Up Asian in Australia (Black Inc., 2008) (editor)
  • {{cite book |title=Her Father's Daughter |year=2011 |publisher=Black Inc. }}
  • Laurinda (Penguin Australia, 2014){{cite web |url=https://penguin.com.au/books/laurinda-9781863956925 |title=Laurinda by Alice Pung |website=penguin.com.au |publisher=Penguin Books Australia |access-date=15 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128195658/https://penguin.com.au/books/laurinda-9781863956925 |archive-date=28 November 2016 |url-status=dead}} (published as Lucy and Linh in the United States, 2016)
  • Our Australian Girl: Meet Marly: Our Australian Girl, illustrated by Lucia Masciullo (Puffin, 2015)
  • Our Australian Girl: Marly's Business, illustrated by Lucia Masciullo (Puffin, 2015)
  • Our Australian Girl: Marly and the Goat, illustrated by Lucia Masciullo (Puffin, 2015)
  • Our Australian Girl: Marly Walks on the Moon, illustrated by Lucia Masciullo (Puffin, 2016)
  • My First Lesson: Stories Inspired by Laurinda (2016){{cite web |url=https://penguin.com.au/books/my-first-lesson-9781863958707 |title=My First Lesson |website=penguin.com.au |publisher=Penguin Books Australia |access-date=15 May 2017}}{{Dead link|date=September 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
  • John Marsden: Writers on Writers (2017){{cite web |url=https://penguin.com.au/books/on-john-marsden-writers-on-writers-9781863959568 |title=On John Marsden: Writers on Writers |website=penguin.com.au |publisher=Penguin Books Australia |access-date=15 May 2017}}{{Dead link|date=September 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{cite web |url=https://www.blackincbooks.com.au/books/john-marsden |title=On John Marsden by Alice Pung |website=Black Inc. Books Australia |publisher=Black Inc. Books |access-date=15 May 2017}}
  • Close to Home (Black Inc., 2018)
  • One Hundred Days (Black Inc., 2021){{Cite web |last=Wong |first=Yen-Rong |date=June 2021 |title=Yen-Rong Wong reviews 'One Hundred Days' by Alice Pung |url=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 |url-status=live |access-date=2021-07-30 |website=Australian Book Review |language=en-gb |archive-url=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 |archive-date=1 June 2021}}
  • Millie Mak the Maker, illustrated by Sher Rill Ng (HarperCollins, 2023){{Cite web |date=2024-08-15 |title=Prime Minister’s Literary Awards 2024 shortlists announced |url=https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2024/08/15/257101/prime-ministers-literary-awards-2024-shortlists-announced/ |access-date=2024-08-15 |publisher=Books+Publishing}}

=Articles=

  • [http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/a-sacrifice-shouldered-a-loyalty-pledged-beyond-words/2007/09/29/1190486626920.html "A sacrifice shouldered, a loyalty pledged beyond words"], 30 September 2007 in The Age
  • [http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/shunned-in-a-strange-land-we-should-offer-them-more-20080816-3wpm.html "Shunned in a strange land, we should offer them more"], 17 August 2008 in The Age
  • [http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/its-time-to-embrace-the-f-word/2007/10/27/1192941398698.html "It's time to embrace the 'F' word"], 28 October 2008 in The Age
  • [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/07/opinion/living-with-racism-in-australia.html "Living with Racism in Australia"], 7 December 2016 in The New York Times

Critical studies and reviews of Pung's work

Her Father's Daughter (2011)

  • {{cite journal |last=On |first=Thuy |date=September 2011 |title=Filial love song |journal=Australian Book Review |issue=334 |pages=24}}
  • Brewster, Anne (2017) Remembering Violence in Alice Pung's Her Father's Daughter: The Postmemoir and Diasporisation, Life Writing, 14:3, 313–325, {{doi|10.1080/14484528.2017.1328298}}

Growing Up Asian in Australia (editor, 2008)

  • Graham, Pamela (2013) Alice Pung's Growing up Asian in Australia: The Cultural Work of Anthologized Asian-Australian Narratives of Childhood, Prose Studies, 35:1, 67–83, {{doi|10.1080/01440357.2013.781412}}

Unpolished Gem (2006)

  • Ommundsen, Wenche (2010) Writing as Cultural Negotiation: Suneeta Peres da Costa and Alice Pung. In: Collett A., D’Arcens L. (eds) The Unsociable Sociability of Women's Lifewriting. Palgrave Macmillan, London.
  • D'Arcangelo, Adele. (2014) Unpolished Gem/Gemma impura the Journey from Australia to Italy of Alice Pung's Bestselling Novel. Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature, [S.l.], v. 14, n. 1, June. ISSN 1833-6027. Available at: https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/index.php/JASAL/article/view/9877.

References

{{reflist|2}}

External links

  • {{Official website|https://www.alicepung.net/}}
  • {{Australian Women and Leadership|WLE0204b|Alice Pung}}
  • [http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/conversations/alice-pung/5866132 Alice Pung], Conversations with Richard Fidler (5 November 2014)
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20130409183309/http://snodger.com.au/shop/DVD/WIW/page/ppung.php#tip Tips on writing video]
  • [http://www.snodger.com.au/whatiwrote/writer/pung.php Alice Pung talks about her works]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pung, Alice}}

Category:1981 births

Category:Living people

Category:Australian memoirists

Category:Australian women novelists

Category:Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia

Category:Australian people of Chinese descent

Category:International Writing Program alumni

Category:Australian women memoirists

Category:Writers from Melbourne

Category:People educated at Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School

Category:People from Braybrook, Victoria

Category:People educated at Mac.Robertson Girls' High School

Category:21st-century Australian women lawyers

Category:21st-century Australian women writers

Category:21st-century Australian writers

Category:21st-century Australian lawyers