About

Here we turn to writers to enlighten us about the Chinese perspective and remind us of the contribution the Chinese have made to our culture.

China is very much at the forefront of our collective consciousness in the 21st century. Christchurch author Jane Carswell is joined in conversation by poet and novelist Alison Wong and Chinese-born Australian writer Ouyang Yu to reflect on their Chinese heritage and how this informs their work.

Alison Wong’s poetry and fiction has been widely published in journals and her first collection of poetry, Cup, published in 2006, was shortlisted for the Jessie Mackay Best First Book of Poetry at the 2007 Montana New Zealand Book Awards. Born and raised in Hawke’s Bay, she has also lived in China and Wellington and is now based in Geelong, Australia. She has been awarded a number of key fellowships for her work, including the 2002 Robert Burns Fellowship at the University of Otago. In 2009 Wong published her first novel, As the Earth Turns Silver, and received the Janet Frame Award for Fiction.

Ouyang Yu moved to Australia in 1991 and has since published over 50 works of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, literary translation and criticism in both English and Chinese, including On the Smell of an Oily Rag: speaking English, thinking Chinese and living Australian. His latest novel, The English Class, has been described by Australian writer Alex Miller as an ‘utterly authentic story which deepens our understanding of both Chinese and Australian culture’.

Jane Carswell won the Whitcoulls Travcom Travel Book of the Year Award for her memoir, Under The Huang Jiao Tree: Two Journeys in China, a reflective, amusing and absorbing book about living and working in China, and the profound impact the experience had on the author’s search for connection and community.