Melanie Cheng Melanie Cheng i(6847988 works by)
Born: Established: Adelaide, South Australia, ;
Gender: Female
Heritage: Chinese
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BiographyHistory

Author and general practitioner.

Born in Adelaide, Cheng lived in Hong Kong from 1986 until 1998, when she returned to Australia for university. As of 2018, she was based in Melbourne.

In 2017, Cheng published her first book, Australia Day, a collection of short stories. It won two Victorian Premier's Awards: the Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript in 2016 and the Prize for Fiction in 2018. Her previous short fiction has been shortlisted for awards including the Hal Porter Short Story Competition and the Rhonda Jankovic Literary Awards.

Most Referenced Works

Personal Awards

2020 shortlisted The Horne Prize for 'The Silent Pandemic'.
2015 second place Rhonda Jankovic Literary Awards Short Story For 'Macca'.
2014 commended The Fellowship of Australian Writers Victoria Inc. National Literary Awards FAW Angelo B. Natoli Short Story Award for Neuroplasticity

Awards for Works

All the Other Stories 2019 single work autobiography
— Appears in: Meanjin , Winter vol. 78 no. 2 2019; (p. 121-125)

'I've just devoured Alex Miller's book Lovesong. Even more than the love affair between John and Sabiha, I'm haunted by the narrator Ken's dilemma - the question of whether he should follow his impulse to write a book about the couple's extraordinary story. John tells Ken he plans to write his own memoir, but Ken has little confidence in John's abilities as a writer, believing the English teacher to be too close to the story to channel the characters effectively.' (Introduction)

 

2018 shortlisted The Horne Prize
y separately published work icon Room for a Stranger Melbourne : Text Publishing , 2019 15404279 2019 single work novel

'Since her sister died, Meg has been on her own. She doesn’t mind, not really—not with Atticus, her African grey parrot, to keep her company—but after her house is broken into by a knife-wielding intruder, she decides it might be good to have some company after all.

'Andy’s father has lost his job, and his parents’ savings are barely enough to cover his tuition. He can't go home to Hong Kong -- but if he wants to graduate, he’ll have to give up his student flat and find a homeshare. Living with an elderly Australian woman is harder than he’d expected, though, and soon he’s struggling with more than his studies.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

2020 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Multicultural NSW Award
2020 longlisted Miles Franklin Literary Award
2020 longlisted Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) Australian Literary Fiction Book of the Year
y separately published work icon Australia Day Melbourne : Text Publishing , 2017 11202969 2017 selected work short story

'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 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.' (Introduction)

2018 winner Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Prize for Fiction
2015 shortlisted Deborah Cass Prize
2018 longlisted Kibble Literary Awards Nita May Dobbie Award
2018 longlisted Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) The Matt Richell Award for New Writer
2018 longlisted Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) Australian Literary Fiction Book of the Year
2018 shortlisted Indie Awards Debut Fiction
2017 shortlisted Readings Prizes Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction
2016 winner Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript by an Emerging Victorian Writer
Last amended 15 Nov 2021 09:35:18
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