Alice Pung

A collection of award-winning author Alice Pung's most loved writing, ranging across migration, identity, food, art, craft and more. This is Alice at her best. A brilliant collection from one of Australia’s leading writers Close to Home brings together Alice Pung's most loved writing on topics such as migration, family, art, belonging, and identity. Warm, funny, moving and unfailingly honest,...

An original and moving look by award-winning writer Alice Pung at one of her biggest influences - the much-loved and hugely successful writer John Marsden. In the Writers on Writers series, leading authors reflect on an Australian writer who has inspired and fascinated them. Provocative and crisp, these books start a fresh conversation between past and present, shed new light...

From one of Australia's most celebrated authors comes a mother-daughter drama exploring the faultlines between love and control. Shortlisted for the 2022 Miles Franklin Literary Award One hundred days. It's no time at all, she tells me. But she's not the one waiting. In a heady whirlwind of independence, lust and defiance, sixteen-year-old Karuna falls pregnant. Not on purpose, but...

Asian-Australians are known to each other and the outside world by many labels: Quiet Achiever, FOB, Gangster Chigger, Mainlander, Banana. But are these labels based on some degree of truth, or only fiction? What is it like to grow up Asian in Australia? Unpredictable, honest, reflective and irreverent, this collection throws out the clichés and takes us behind the stereotypes....

At twenty-something, Alice is eager for the milestones of adulthood: leaving home, choosing a career, finding friendship and love on her own terms. But with each step she takes she feels the sharp tug of invisible threads: the love and worry of her parents, who want more than anything to keep her from harm. Her father fears for her safety...

Unpolished Gem is a book rich in comedy, a loving and irreverent portrait of a family, its everyday struggles, and bittersweet triumphs. With it, Australian writing gains an unforgettable new voice. This story does not begin on a boat. Nor does it contain any wild swans or falling leaves. In a wonderland called Footscray, a girl named Alice and her...

From best-selling author Alice Pung and renowned illustrator Sher Rill Ng comes an extraordinarily powerful and moving book about how the past can shape the future. Xiao Xin believes he is a red fire warrior, but his family are always telling him to be careful. They believe the world is a dangerous place. Too dangerous for a little boy on...

An inspiring series for young and old makers by the award-winning author-illustrator team Alice Pung and Sher Rill Ng. Nine-year-old Millie Mak has discovered she has a superpower! Using everyday objects, Millie turns them into something new, beautiful and useful. Who would ever think that a sunhat could be made from an old bedsheet, a skirt from a tea-towel, or...

The second exciting book about Millie and her superpower of making everyday objects into something beautiful and useful. Millie Mak is now ten, and often feels shy and awkward. But by using her special gift to make handy and beautiful things, Millie befriends residents at the aged care home where her mum works. When the whole school becomes involved in...

It's 1983 ...and Marly needs a job. She wants to buy Donkey Kong cards to swap with the other kids at school, but her parents think the cards are a waste of money. Then Marly's friend Yousra gives her an idea, and she decides to start her own business. But working on your own isn't easy, and when she catches...

Laurinda is an exclusive school for girls. At its hidden centre of power is The Cabinet, a triangle of girls who wield power over their classmates—and some of their teachers. Entering this world of wealth and secrets is Lucy Lam, a scholarship girl with sharp eyes and a shaky sense of self. As she watches The Cabinet in action, and...

It's 1983, and Marly is just trying to fit in at Sunshine Primary School. But being a refugee from Vietnam doesn't make things easy. When Marly's cousins come to stay and end up at the same school, her friends make fun of them. How can Marly stay loyal to her cousins and keep her school friends as well? Meet Marly...

Millie Mak Makes Her Mark is the final title in the series about Millie Mak - the clever maker and problem-solver. Millie Mak and her friends are trying to start a business creating and selling their upcycled designs. But it's school holidays, and looking after their annoying younger siblings is really slowing them down. Meanwhile, Millie's friend Veesa wonders whether...

From one of Australia's most celebrated authors comes a mother-daughter drama exploring the faultlines between love and control. Shortlisted for the 2022 Miles Franklin Literary Award One hundred days. It's no time at all, she tells me. But she's not the one waiting. In a heady whirlwind of independence, lust and defiance, sixteen-year-old Karuna falls pregnant. Not on purpose, but...

The twentieth-anniversary edition of a modern Australian classic. This story does not begin on a boat. Nor does it contain any wild swans or falling leaves. In a wonderland called Footscray, a girl named Alice and her Chinese-Cambodian family pursue the Australian Dream - Asian style. Armed with an ocker accent, Alice dives head-first into schooling, romance and the getting...

It's 1983, and the long-awaited baby has finally arrived. But Marly never realised that a new baby would take up so much of everyone's time! No one's helping her with her costume for the school concert, and she feels like she's invisible. Marly's secret plan is to perform the Moonwalk, the dance she's been practising all year. But will she...