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y separately published work icon The Fish Girl single work   novella  
Issue Details: First known date: 2017... 2017 The Fish Girl
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Sparked by the description of a 'Malay trollope' in W. Somerset Maugham's story, The Four Dutchmen, Mirandi Riwoe's novella, The Fish Girl tells of an Indonesian girl whose life is changed irrevocably when she moves from a small fishing village to work in the house of a Dutch merchant. There she finds both hardship and tenderness as her traditional past and colonial present collide.

'Told with an exquisitely restrained voice and coloured with lush description, this moving book will stay with you long after the last page.' (Publication summary)

Notes

  • Dedication: For Ellen, woman of my heart

  • Epigraph: One of these days he would buy himself a house on the hills in Java and marry a pretty little Javanese. They were so small and so gentle and they made no noise, and he would dress her in silk sarongs and give her gold chains to wear round her neck and gold bangles to put on her arms. - W. Somerset Mauhgam, The Four Dutchmen

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Seizure , 2017 .
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      Extent: 128p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 1st September 2017

      ISBN: 9781925589061
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Burnished Sun Mirandi Riwoe , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2022 23603525 2022 selected work short story

    'This stunning story collection includes two prize-winning novellas along with an impressive range of historical and contemporary stories, all written by characters who yearn to belong and find acceptance.

    'From the award-winning author of Stone Sky Gold Mountain come these superbly crafted stories that explore the inner lives of those who are often ignored or misunderstood.

    'We follow a migrant mother who yearns to feel welcomed at a kids' party in a local park; a young skateboarder caught between showing loyalty and being accepted; and an Indonesian maid working far from home who longs for the son she's left behind. Bookending this collection are two stunning novellas: Annah the Javanese re-imagines the world of one of Paul Gauguin's models in nineteenth-century Paris, while the highly acclaimed The Fish Girl reworks a classic W Somerset Maugham story from the perspective of a young Indonesian woman.

    'With rich emotional insight and a light touch, these wide-ranging stories reveal hidden desires and human fragility.' (Publication summary)

    St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2022
    pg. 195-274

Works about this Work

y separately published work icon Mirandi Riwoe Astrid Edwards (interviewer), 2020 19326758 2020 single work podcast interview

'Mirandi Riwoe is the author of 2020's Stone Sky Gold Mountain, as well as the novella The Fish Girl, which won Seizure’s Viva la Novella V and was shortlisted for The Stella Prize and the Queensland Literary Award’s UQ Fiction Prize.

'Mirandi also publishes under the name M.J. Tjia, and she is the woman behind the Heloise Chancey historical crime series She Be Damned, A Necessary Murder and The Death of Me.

'Her work features in Best Australian StoriesMeanjinReview of Australian FictionGriffith Reviewand Best Summer Stories.'

Source: The Garret.

A Tale from the Colony of Colour and Gender Jena Woodhouse , 2019 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Women's Book Review , vol. 28 no. 1 2019; (p. 16-20)

'SOMERSET Maugham (1874-1965) was a successful British playwright, novelist, short-story writer and travel writer, whose writings were often closely linked with his travel experiences and the stories he heard in the course of his far-ranging journeys.

'Mirandi Riwoe, on the other hand, is a Brisbane born and based writer of IndoChinese and Irish-English-Australian parentage whose novella, The Fish Girl (2017), was shortlisted for the Stella Prize in 2018.'  (Introduction)

April in Fiction Michalia Arathimos , 2018 single work review
— Appears in: Overland [Online] , March 2018;

— Review of The Life to Come Michelle De Kretser , 2017 single work novel ; The Best Australian Stories 2017 2017 anthology short story ; The Fish Girl Mirandi Riwoe , 2017 single work novella
Provocative, Political, Speculative : Your Guide to the 2018 Stella Shortlist Camilla Nelson , 2018 single work column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 11 April 2018;

'Six years ago, The Stella Prize burst onto the Australian literary scene with an air of urgency. The A$50,000 award was the progeny of the Stella Count – a campaign highlighting the under-representation of women authors in book reviews and awards lists. In the years since, the prize has challenged the gendered ways in which we think about “significance” and “seriousness” in literature.' (Introduction)

Mirandi Riwoe on The Fish Girl 2018 single work interview
— Appears in: The Stella Interviews 2018;

'Mirandi Riwoe is shortlisted for the 2018 Stella Prize. In this special Stella interview, Mirandi shares her favourite contemporary Australian female writers, and the background to – and inspiration for – her novella, The Fish Girl.' (Introduction)

Haunting Tale of Human Isolation Ed Wright , 2018 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 10 February 2018; (p. 18)

— Review of Soon Lois Murphy , 2017 single work novel ; Rural Liberties Neal Drinnan , 2017 single work novel ; The Last Long Drop Mike Safe , 2017 single work novel ; The Fish Girl Mirandi Riwoe , 2017 single work novella

'Western Australia is experiencing a literary purple patch at the moment and Lois Murphy’s debut novel, Soon (Transit Lounge, 288pp, $29.99), is further evidence of this. Murphy, who lives in Melbourne now, spent six years travelling Australia in a homemade four-wheel-drive truck, and this novel about the stubborn last residents of an abandoned town is loosely based on the fate of Wittenoom, infamous as the site of Australia’s largest asbestos mine.' (Introduction)

April in Fiction Michalia Arathimos , 2018 single work review
— Appears in: Overland [Online] , March 2018;

— Review of The Life to Come Michelle De Kretser , 2017 single work novel ; The Best Australian Stories 2017 2017 anthology short story ; The Fish Girl Mirandi Riwoe , 2017 single work novella
Mirandi Riwoe on The Fish Girl 2018 single work interview
— Appears in: The Stella Interviews 2018;

'Mirandi Riwoe is shortlisted for the 2018 Stella Prize. In this special Stella interview, Mirandi shares her favourite contemporary Australian female writers, and the background to – and inspiration for – her novella, The Fish Girl.' (Introduction)

Provocative, Political, Speculative : Your Guide to the 2018 Stella Shortlist Camilla Nelson , 2018 single work column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 11 April 2018;

'Six years ago, The Stella Prize burst onto the Australian literary scene with an air of urgency. The A$50,000 award was the progeny of the Stella Count – a campaign highlighting the under-representation of women authors in book reviews and awards lists. In the years since, the prize has challenged the gendered ways in which we think about “significance” and “seriousness” in literature.' (Introduction)

A Tale from the Colony of Colour and Gender Jena Woodhouse , 2019 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Women's Book Review , vol. 28 no. 1 2019; (p. 16-20)

'SOMERSET Maugham (1874-1965) was a successful British playwright, novelist, short-story writer and travel writer, whose writings were often closely linked with his travel experiences and the stories he heard in the course of his far-ranging journeys.

'Mirandi Riwoe, on the other hand, is a Brisbane born and based writer of IndoChinese and Irish-English-Australian parentage whose novella, The Fish Girl (2017), was shortlisted for the Stella Prize in 2018.'  (Introduction)

y separately published work icon Mirandi Riwoe Astrid Edwards (interviewer), 2020 19326758 2020 single work podcast interview

'Mirandi Riwoe is the author of 2020's Stone Sky Gold Mountain, as well as the novella The Fish Girl, which won Seizure’s Viva la Novella V and was shortlisted for The Stella Prize and the Queensland Literary Award’s UQ Fiction Prize.

'Mirandi also publishes under the name M.J. Tjia, and she is the woman behind the Heloise Chancey historical crime series She Be Damned, A Necessary Murder and The Death of Me.

'Her work features in Best Australian StoriesMeanjinReview of Australian FictionGriffith Reviewand Best Summer Stories.'

Source: The Garret.

Last amended 30 Nov 2018 06:08:53
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