Alice Pung is an award-winning writer based in Melbourne. She is the bestselling author of the memoirs Unpolished Gem and Her Father’s Daughter, and the essay collection Close to Home, as well as the editor of the anthologies Growing Up Asian in Australia and My First Lesson. Her first novel, Laurinda, won the Ethel Turner Prize at the 2016 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. One Hundred Days is her most recent novel.
The conversation covers:
- Alice’s early reading influences including Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume
- Emily Maguire introduced Alice to American short story writer, Grace Paley who said every good story for adults should have blood and money
- Experiences of motherhood
- Writing on the run and how this has changed her process over time
- How she created the character of Karuna and the novel One Hundred Days
- The influence of fairy tales
- Working with students who are studying Alice’s writing and including resources on her excellent website
- Alice’s twenty year editing relationship with Nick Feik at Black Inc
Alice’s advice to writers: write with the integrity of your voice intact
Alice recommends the debut books: Emotional Female by Yumiko Kadota and The Mother Wound by Amani Haydar
The First Time podcast 
Wow, this sounds like an interesting episode indeed, and I’ll definitely check it out when I wash the dishes later. Thanks for this post!
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I’m reading her new book at the moment and loving it. Great episode again ladies!
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