Alice Pung OAM is an award-winning writer based in Melbourne. She has published eight books with Black Inc. since 2006, including her bestselling memoirs Unpolished Gem and Her Father’s Daughter, the essay collection Close to Home, and the novels Laurinda and One Hundred Days. The last of these was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award in 2022, and will be published in the US in October.

How was your first book, Unpolished Gem, acquired by Black Inc.?

When I was nineteen I had a story published in a literary magazine called Meanjin. Chris Feik, my longtime editor of over 20 years, read it and decided to give me a call out of the blue. He said I had a really unique and funny voice, and wondered whether the story was part of a larger work. Of course, I only had that short story at the time, but seizing my chance, I lied – I said it was a book chapter, and if he’d like, I could show him some more. He said yes. So during my university holidays I madly wrote about 30,000 words. Chris worked with me on it for the next four years, as I submitted each story to him for safekeeping. When I'd sent him enough stories, he said, “We have enough for a book.” This was how Unpolished Gem came about. 

Is there a particular part of the publishing process that you love or hate the most?

I love writing the book, especially the first draft, before there is any reader (not even my trusted editor). The act of creating something new, and playing around with the ideas and language. I also enjoy editing. Some writers don't, but I think I enjoy it because I have such an excellent long-time editor. Chris is now very senior in Black Inc., but he will always be involved in my books; and then every single editor at Black Inc. I've had has been very thoughtful and skilled. Editing is a fine skill, and writers really appreciate those who know how to do it well. 

You’re not just a writer, but a qualified lawyer and a mother of three. How do you carve out the time to write?

I write late at night when the kids are asleep. I work well at night, in the silence, when I can think in full paragraphs again. Having three kids (the youngest 2, the oldest 8) means that most of the time during the day, I can’t even finish thinking in sentences. 

What does your writing practice look like? Are you a meticulous planner, or do you wait for the story to come together organically?

Character comes first for me, and I am interested in how they grow and develop and gain insight through the course of a novel. So for my last book, One Hundred Days, I wrote the beginning and the ending first, and the rest of the process was figuring out how teenage Karuna got from living with her mum to becoming an independent mother herself. 

What’s one book you think everyone should read?

The Bible, from beginning to end. No matter what faith you are, it is important to understand the enormous influence these words have had on shaping our culture, our politics and our daily lives (our domain over all living things, our right to control the environment, our ideas of motherhood).  

Is picking a favourite of your own books like picking a favourite child, or is there one that holds a special place in your heart?

Probably my first book, Unpolished Gem, because I had no conception of what an ‘audience’ was, and it was the book that made me a published author.

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