The Burnished Sun, by Mirandi Riwoe is a story collection that includes two prize-winning novellas along with a range of historical and contemporary stories, all written by characters who seek to belong and find acceptance. These superbly crafted stories explore the inner lives of those who are often ignored or misunderstood.
We follow a migrant mother who yearns to feel welcomed at a kids’ party in a local park; a young skateboarder caught between showing loyalty and being accepted; and an Indonesian maid working far from home who longs for the son she’s left behind. Bookending this collection are two powerful novellas – Annah the Javanese re-imagines the world of one of Paul Gauguin’s models in nineteenth-century Paris, while the highly acclaimed The Fish Girl reworks a classic W Somerset Maugham story from the perspective of a young Indonesian woman.
With rich emotional insight and a light touch, these wide-ranging stories reveal hidden desires and human fragility.
‘The Burnished Sun effortlessly traverses between the sublime and the everyday, and across continents and time. Riwoe conveys small worlds in each story.’ – Alice Pung
At Byron Writers Festival, Mirandi Riwoe will take part in the panel ‘Lost Voices’ (Friday 26 August) with Eleanor Limprecht to discuss what it means to fill the gaps history has forgotten. ‘Writing From The Margins’ (Saturday 27 August) with Becky Manawatu and Mykaela Saunders to discuss how change originates at the margins of society and how they subvert dominant narratives with their writing.
