Alice Pung
Pyalong Ambassador
Alice Pung is a Melbourne writer and lawyer. She was born in Footscray, and grew up in Braybrook, attending local primary and secondary schools in the Western suburbs.
Alice is the author of Unpolished Gem and the editor of Growing up Asian in Australia. She has had stories and articles published in Good Weekend, Meanjin, the Monthly, Age, The Best Australian Stories 2007 and Etchings.
Although Alice is currently practicing as a solicitor, she has worked extensively with both primary and secondary school students – as an art instructor, independent school teacher, and student mentor. To see a list of some of the schools and libraries Alice has spoken at, click here.
Alice is tutor and subject co-ordinator at Ormond College, the University of Melbourne.
Alice has a deep passion and empathy for youth issues, and believes in the power of good humour (and not-so-good puns) to help surmount adversity. Alice has also appeared on radio with Richard Stubbs, with John Safran and Father Bob Maguire on ‘Sunday Nights with Safran’, and on Ramona Koval’s ‘The Book Show’.
Alice has received enormous critical acclaim for her writing. Unpolished Gem won the 2007 Australian Newcomer of the Year award in the Australian Book Industry Awards and was shortlisted for several other awards including the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards and The Age Book of the Year 2007.
In September 2011 her latest book, Her Father's Daughter, will be released by Black Inc.