Shortlist year: 2013
Shortlist category: Poetry
Published by: Pitt Street Poetry (2012 publisher Australian Poetry)
These poems were written while Eileen Chong was an Australian Poetry Fellow in 2011-2012, mentored by Anthony Lawrence.
The first edition of Burning Rice was published by Australian Poetry in 2012 as part of its New Voices series and sold out in record time.
In 2012 it was highly commended for the “Anne Elder Award for a first collection of poetry published in Australia.
The poems in Burning Rice pull you in with their sumptuous images and seductive memories. Eileen Chong’s poetry is a gift of the interconnection of past and present, the personal and the communal. Judith Beveridge
About the author
Eileen Chong
Eileen Chong was born in Singapore. Her first collection, Burning Rice, was published in 2010. It was shortlisted for the Anne Elder Award 2012, the Australian Arts in Asia Award 2013, and the Prime Minister’s Literary Award 2013. Her second collection, Peony (2014) and third collection Painting Red Orchids (2016) were published by Pitt Street Poetry. She has lived in Sydney since 2007.