Australia Day | Melanie Cheng
Melanie Cheng is an astonishingly deft and incisive writer. With economy and elegance, she creates a dazzling mosaic of contemporary life, of how we live now. Hers is a compelling new voice in Australian literature. Christos Tsiolkas Australia Day is a collection of stories by debut author Melanie Cheng. The people she writes abut are young, old, rich, poor, married, widowed, Chinese, Lebanese, Christian, Muslim. What they have in commonno matter where they come fromis the desire we all share to feel that we belong. The stories explore universal themes of love, loss, family and identity, while at the same time asking crucial questions about the possibility of human connection in a globalised world. This is an important new voice, offering a fresh perspective on contemporary Australia. Her effortless, unpretentious realism balances an insiders sensitivity and understanding with an outsiders clear-eyed objectivity, showing us a version of ourselves richer and more multifaceted than anything weve seen before. Melanie Cheng is a writer and general practitioner. Of Chinese-Australian heritage, she was born in Adelaide, grew up in Hong Kong and now lives in Melbourne. In 2016 she won the Victorian Premiers Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript. Australia Day is her first book. All of her charactersa diverse cast of difference races and faithsare searching for connection or a sense of belonging, and coming up short. Despite its title the focus of this collection is not explicitly on that increasingly controversial public holiday. Rather, it is on the struggles, internal and external, that occur when people from different backgrounds meet by chance or are brought together...Australia Day is a bittersweet, beautifully crafted collection that will be much admired by fans of Cate Kennedy and Tony Birch. Books+Publishing What a wonderful book, a book with bite. These stories have a real edge to them. They are complex without being contrived, humanising, but never sentimental or cloyingand, ultimately, very moving. Alice Pung In each story, Melanie Cheng creates an entire microcosm, peeling back the superficial to expose the raw nerves of contemporary Australian society. Her eye is sharp and sympathetic, her characters flawed and funny and utterly believable. Jennifer Down Melanie Chengs stories are a deep dive into the diversity of humanity. They lead you into lives, into hearts, into unexplored places, and bring you back transformed. Michelle Wright The characters stay in the mind, their lives and experiences mirroring many of our own, challenging us to think how we might respond in their place. An insightful, sometimes uncomfortable portrayal of multicultural Australia from an observant and talented writer. Ranjana Srivastava A bittersweet, beautifully crafted collection. Books + Publishing Australia Day is an absorbing panorama of contemporary Australia...These are 14 powerfully perceptive stories, written with love, humour, realism, and a distinct edginess. While the terrain covered might be familiar, Chengs take on our treasured multiculturalism feels fresh... Its necessary reading, not only because its a microcosm of who we are, but because each story is a gem, and a joy to behold. Simon McDonald If only the PM might pick up a copy, even by mistake. Saturday Paper A wonderful feat of storytelling...Melanie Cheng is an exciting new writer. Readings A sumptuous collection of fourteen short stories, which are disparate but with modern Australia or Australians at their heart, exploring issues of racism, infidelity, grief, parenthood, children and ageing...they are heartfelt and Melbourne-based Cheng paints the characters beautifully. Herald Sun A panorama of contemporary multicultural Australia that explores each and everyones desire to belong. Book Bonding A diverse, captivating collection of short stories. Better Read Than Dead
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Australia Day | 
