Debut Picture Book ~ NOTHING ALIKE

Things have been moving fast, and I’ve been so busy I haven’t even had time to mention my upcoming debut book here.

As many of you know, I’ve been hard at work on my creative writing since I passed my GP Fellowship exams in 2016. It’s been a long journey, but so much fun! A lot of it is outlined in this profile on The Australian Writers’ Centre website and also on the CYA Conference Success Panel page, in these posts about my path to publication.

But now the date is coming nearer. My first book, NOTHING ALIKE, will be hitting the shelves on 16 August, 2023.

NOTHING ALIKE

NOTHING ALIKE is a story close to my heart – a lighthearted look at the absurdity of some of our thinking about race. In it, a young boy called Reuben (based on my son), has trouble telling two girls in his class apart. They just look so similar. They both have the same hair, they’re both short, and they even wear the same clothes! (School uniform) When my son came home with this dilemma, I tried to help him see how to solve it, without shaming him.

I really feel passionately that we all need to talk about the elephant in the room, which is often race, and about racial inequities and inequalities. Children do see race, and we need to have open discussions about it with them. I hope that this funny story will help kids see that you can have a bit of a laugh about a serious topic. And that they will associate positive feelings with the discussion, and not feel lectured at.

Based on a true story

I have experienced this situation of being mistaken for other Asian people, most recently with my friend Inda Ahmad Zahri. We have a lot in common, but as you can see we look nothing alike!

But our writing colleagues continually mistake us for each other. We don’t mind particularly – it’s funny – but I’ve heard a lot of stories where it’s not so harmless. Stories about Asian people being cc’d into the wrong emails, not hearing about meetings they should attend at work, or receiving the minutes for meetings they didn’t attend, because someone mistook them for another Asian colleague. There can be serious social and economic consequences to something that seems “harmless” and “innocent”.

Too often, these situations are giggled at or glossed over in the classroom. But from little things big things grow. When my son came home saying he couldn’t tell those girls apart, I knew I wanted to nip that behaviour in the bud! And happily, we did. In real life, and in the book, the little white boy learns to really see the girls, and thereby be a better friend.

NOTHING ALIKE is available for pre-order now at your local bookstore or online. If you order now, delivery will be on or before publication date on 16 August. Pre-orders are important for authors, especially debut authors, because they create a bit of buzz for the book amongst booksellers.

Sydney launch

If you’re in Sydney, I’d love to see you at the book launch at Gleebooks on Saturday 19 August, 10am:

Invitation to book launch at Gleebooks

My MC is a very special guest in The Australian writing and publishing scene, Valerie Khoo. I first knew of Valerie as the Editor of Cleo magazine back in my teens. Now she’s the CEO of the Australian Writers’ Centre, as well as an author, artist, entrepreneur and public figure.

Brisbane launch

Stay tuned for my Brisbane launch date.

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