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Amra Pajalić Amra Pajalić i(A86122 works by)
Born: Established: Melbourne - West, Melbourne, Victoria, ;
Gender: Female
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BiographyHistory

Amra Pajalic was born in the western suburbs of Melbourne. In 2001 Pajalic commenced her Diploma of Arts in Professional Writing and Editing at the Council of Adult Education, and later completed a Bachelor of Arts in Sydney. Her first novel The Good Daughter, was shortlisted the 2007 Victorian Premier's Award for Best Unpublished Manuscript, and won the 2009 Melbourne Prize for Literature's Civic Choice Award, and was also a finalist in that same year in the Melbourne Prize for Literature Best Writing Award. Pajalic has co-authored and was the Project Manager of 'What A Muslim Woman Looks Like' a government funded resource profiling Muslim women.

Most Referenced Works

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Things Nobody Knows But Me Yarraville : Transit Lounge , 2019 15508122 2019 single work autobiography biography

'When she is four years old Amra Pajalić realises that her mother is different. Fatima is loving but sometimes hears strange voices that tell her to do bizarre things. She is frequently sent to hospital and Amra and her brother are passed around to family friends and foster homes, and for a time live with their grandparents in Bosnia.

At sixteen Amra ends up in the school counsellor's office for wagging school. She finally learns the name for the malady that has dogged her mother and affected her own life: bipolar disorder. Amra becomes her mother's confidante and learns the extraordinary story of her life: when she was fifteen years old Fatima visited family friends only to find herself in an arranged marriage. At sixteen she was a migrant, a mother, and mental patient.

Surprisingly funny, Things Nobody Knows But Me is a tender portrait of family and migration, beautifully told. It captures a wonderful sense of bicultural place and life as it weaves between St Albans in suburban Australia and Bosanska Gradiška in Bosnia. Ultimately it is the heartrending story of a mother and daughter bond fractured and forged by illness and experience. Fatima emerges as a remarkable but wounded woman who learns that her daughter really loves her.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

2020 shortlisted National Biography Award
y separately published work icon Coming of Age : Growing Up Muslim in Australia Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2014 6740732 2014 anthology autobiography young adult

'Muslim people in Australia come from over seventy countries and represent a wide variety of cultural backgrounds and experiences. Yet we are constantly bombarded by media stories feeding one negative stereotype. What is it really like to grow up Muslim in Australia? In this book, famous and not-so-famous Muslim-Australians tell their stories in their own voices.

'The migrant, the convert, the participant in an arranged marriage - these are all familiar images associated with Muslim people. But delve deeper and there are many other stories: the young female boxer entering the ring for her first professional bout; a ten year old boy who renounces religion; a young woman struggling to reconcile her sexual identity with her faith. These honest and heartfelt stories will resonate with all readers, providing different snapshots of Muslim life in Australia, dispelling myths and stereotypes, and above all celebrating diversity, achievement, courage and determination.' (Publisher's blurb)

2015 shortlisted CBCA Book of the Year Awards Eve Pownall Award for Information Books
2015 CBCA Book of the Year Awards Notable Book Eve Pownall Award
y separately published work icon The Good Daughter : A Novel Melbourne : Text Publishing , 2009 Z1601539 2009 single work novel young adult Fifteen-year-old Sabiha has a lot to deal with: her mother's mental health issues, her interfering aunt, her mother's new boyfriend, her live-in grandfather and his chess buddy, not to mention her arrogant cousin Adnan. They all want to marry her off, have her become a strict Muslim and speak Bosnian. And Sabiha's friends are not always friendly. She gets bullied by girlfriends and is anxious about boyfriends, when she just wants to fit in. But two boys, Brian and Jesse, become the allies of this fierce and funny girl.
2009 winner Melbourne Prize Civic Choice Award
2009 finalist Melbourne Prize Best Writing Award
Last amended 5 Feb 2019 09:22:13
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