Australia Day

Melanie Cheng's vivid and absorbing panorama of Australian culture was the winner of the 2018 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Fiction, and was shortlisted for the 2018 Indie Book Award for debut fiction and the 2017 Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction.

Australia Day is a collection of stories by debut author Melanie Cheng. The people she writes about are young, old, rich, poor, married, widowed, Chinese, Lebanese, Christian, Muslim. What they have in common-no matter where they come from-is 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.

Melanie Cheng is an important new voice, offering a fresh perspective on contemporary Australia. Her effortless, unpretentious realism balances an insider's sensitivity and understanding with an outsider's clear-eyed objectivity, showing us a version of ourselves richer and more multifaceted than anything we've seen before.

'Cheng has a remarkable sense for the portentous drama in everyday lives. She focuses on the way her characters respond to change or tragedy rather than on dramatic plot turns, and she does this with a deftness and an economy of language that is breathtaking.' Australian Book Review

'Wonderful.' Christos Tsiolkas

'Cheng's work is polished and affecting. Australia Day is that thing we all chase: a complex, engaging and timely read.' Lifted Brow

'A stunning debut that takes its place among Australian short story greats...This is the kind of book you can read in one sitting, or space out one story a day to savour the experience.' AU Review