State of the (Writing) Nation: Alice Pung

The State of the (Writing) Nation is Writers Victoria’s annual address from a prominent Australian writer. It’s a chance to reflect on what’s happening and where we’re heading in Australian literature and publishing. Award-winning novelist, memoirist and editor Alice Pung will give the 2021 address.
William Hazlitt wrote that ‘the smallest pain in our little finger causes us more concern than the destruction of our fellow human beings’. In her address, Pung will consider what kind of writing matters in the face of our small hurts and large griefs, and take an unflinching look at the excessive weight we place on literature to ameliorate our feelings. If you’re only half-grudgingly woke, is it better to just stay asleep? Pung will explore the pitfalls of this self-motivated obsession with using literature to educate, and examine whose expense it comes at.
Shu-Ling Chua, author of Echoes, will also deliver a short reading. Hosted by Writers Victoria patron Christos Tsiolkas.
Presented in partnership with Writers Victoria. All proceeds from this event will support writers who experience financial barriers to access professional development and networking opportunities
The online bookseller for this event is Amplify Bookstore
Featuring
Featuring

Alice Pung is an award-winning Australian writer whose books include the bestselling memoirs Unpolished Gem (2006) and Her Father’s Daughter (2011), and the novel Laurinda (2014). She is the editor of the anthology Growing Up Asian in Australia (2008), and created the Marly books for Penguin... Read more

Shu-Ling Chua is a Melbourne-based (formerly Canberra-based) essayist, critic and poet, whose work has appeared in Peril magazine, Lindsay, Meanjin, and Asian American Writers’ Workshop, among others. Her debut essay collection, Echoes, was published in 2020. Shu-Ling was shortlisted in the 2018... Read more

Christos Tsiolkas is the author of six novels, including Loaded, which was made into the feature film Head-On, The Jesus Man and Dead Europe, which won the 2006 Age Fiction Prize and the 2006 Melbourne Best Writing Award, as well as being made into a feature film. His fourth novel, the international... Read more
Watch, Listen, Read

Listen
The Maternal Question
22 Jun 2022

Read
Hot Desk Extract: three approaches to mem*ry
20 Jun 2022

Watch
Reading with Consent
14 Jun 2022

Watch
Teens Talk... Consent
14 Jun 2022

Read
Paul Dalla Rosa on An Exciting and Vivid Inner Life
10 Jun 2022

Read
'Nothing connects humans like fiction'
9 Jun 2022