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UQP acquires Riwoe’s historical novel ‘On Gold Mountain’

The University of Queensland Press (UQP) has acquired world rights to historical novel On Gold Mountain by Brisbane-based writer Mirandi Riwoe.

Set on the goldfields of north Queensland during the 1870s, the novel follows two Chinese siblings, Ying and Lai Yue, who are trying to make their fortune so they can return home to pay off their father’s debts. Ying, who has to disguise herself as a boy, gradually strikes up a friendship with a young white woman who has been ostracised from her local community, while Lai Yue abandons gold mining and finds work on a local sheep station. On Gold Mountain is described as ‘a stunning and insightful historical novel that confronts Australia’s troubled racial history, one with lessons for the times in which we currently live’.

Riwoe said she was ‘delighted’ to have signed with UQP and to work with publisher Aviva Tuffield. ‘As a Queensland writer, I’m very excited to join UQP, a publisher that’s played a profound part in nurturing emerging writers and telling diverse stories,’ said Riwoe.

Tuffield said: ‘I have been a fan of Mirandi’s writing for a long time now, especially her short stories and her novella, The Fish Girl, and am so excited that we will get to work together on this book. On Gold Mountain is a compelling, compassionate and beautifully written novel from one of Australia’s rising literary stars, and will win Mirandi many new fans.’

Riwoe’s 2017 novella The Fish Girl (Seizure) won last year’s Viva la Novella competition, was shortlisted for the 2018 Stella Prize and is currently shortlisted for the Queensland Literary Awards.

On Gold Mountain will be published in early 2020.

 

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Category: Local news Rights and acquisitions