Vietnamese-Australian life writing and integration: the magazine for multicultural and Vietnamese issues
RIS ID
119000
Abstract
Vietnamese-Australian stories have attracted significant public interest in the last few years, particularly with the success of Anh Do's The Happiest Refugee (2010). When this book won a raft of Australian literary awards in 2011, it quickly became a bestseller and was selected for book-group discussions across the country. By the end of 2011 Do had been engaged by the Australian government's Department of Immigration to deliver a motivational speech to selected detention centre staff - with the view that his fomily's story of escape from Vietnam, their subsequent adaptation to migrant life and their eventual making good in Australia would provide department employees with 'valuable insight on refugee issues and how people are accepted into the Australian community' (Benson 2011 ). 1 Also in 2011, Anh Do and his wife, Suzanne Do, co-authored a children's picture book, The Little Refugee (2012), which was distributed to schools throughout southwestern Sydney during Refugee Week in 2012, along with an activity kit for classroom use (Roads-to-Refuge 2012). Do, who was already well known through his numerous television appearances before publication of his book, had enormous success in 2012 with a two-episode television program, Anh Does Vietnam, its broadcast providing a sizable ratings boost for Channel 7 (Enker 2012; Vickery 2013). In the same year Do began touring a theatre adaptation of the stories from his book, titled
Publication Details
Jacklin, M. "Vietnamese-Australian life writing and integration: the magazine for multicultural and Vietnamese issues." Migrant nation : Australian culture, society and identity. Ed.P. Longley. Arthur. London ; New York: Anthem Press, 2018, 201-212.