The Boat
  • Published: 2 March 2009
  • ISBN: 9780143009610
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 336
  • RRP: $22.99

The Boat

Formats & editions
Paperback
2 Mar 2009
EBook
2 Mar 2009
Buy from…
Amazon Booktopia Dymocks QBD Readings Find local retailers Find local retailers Abbeys Angus & Robertson Boomerang Collins Fishpond Gleebooks Harry Hartog Kinokuniya Robinsons The Nile Your Bookstore

- Brilliant, daring, and demonstrating a jaw-dropping versatility of voice and point of view, The Boat is an extraordinary work of fiction that takes us to the heart of what it means to be human, and announces a writer of astonishing gifts.

'A fearless new Australian voice that accepts no geographical limits: these are stories of leaping power and the most breath-taking grace and intimacy.' Helen Garner
'Wonderful stories that snarl and pant across our crazed world . . . an extraordinary performance. Nam Le is a heartbreaker, not easily forgotten.' Junot Diaz
The Boat takes us from a tourist in Tehran to a teenage hit man in Colombia; from an aging New York artist to a boy coming of age in a small Victorian fishing town; from the city of Hiroshima just before the bomb is dropped to the haunting waste of the South China Sea in the wake of another war. Each story uncovers a raw human truth. Each story is absorbing and fully realised as a novel. Together, they make up a collection of astonishing diversity and achievement.
Winner 2009 Australian Book Industry Awards for Newcomer of the Year Winner 2009 SMH Young Novelist Prize for Writing for Young Adults Winner 2009 Melbourne Prize for Literature for Best Writing Award Winner 2009 QLD Premier’s Literary Award for Australian Short Story Collection Winner 2009 NSW Premier’s Awards for New Writing and Book of the Year Winner 2009 Dylan Thomas Prize for Fiction Winner 2009 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Fiction Winner 2010 Kathleen Mitchell Award Prize for Writing for Young Adults
  • Published: 2 March 2009
  • ISBN: 9780143009610
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 336
  • RRP: $22.99
Categories:
Share…

About the author

Nam Le

Nam Le's first book, The Boat, received the Australian Prime Minister's Literary Award, the Melbourne Prize (Best Writing Award), the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and the PEN/Malamud Award, among other honours. It was selected as a New York Times Notable Book and Editor's Choice, the best debut of 2008 by the Australian Book Review and New York Magazine, and a book of the year by The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, The Herald Sun, The Monthly, and numerous sources around the world. The Boat has been translated into thirteen languages and its stories widely anthologised. Le is the fiction editor of the Harvard Review.

portrait photo of Nam Le

Also by Nam Le

Love and Honour and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice:Penguin Specials
See all

Awards & recognition

W.A. Premier's Book Award

Shortlisted  •  2008  •  Fiction

Australian Book Industry Awards

Winner  •  2009  •  Newcomer of the Year

Dylan Thomas Prize (UK)

Winner  •  2009  •  Fiction

Melbourne Prize for Literature

Winner  •  2009  •  Best Writing Award

NSW Premier's Literary Awards

Winner  •  2009  •  Book of the Year

NSW Premier's Literary Awards

Winner  •  2009  •  New Writing

Prime Minister's Literary Award

Winner  •  2009  •  Fiction

Qld Premier's Literary Award

Winner  •  2009  •  Australian Short Story Collection - Arts Queensland Steele Rudd Award

SMH Young Novelist

Winner  •  2009  •  Prize for Writing for Young Adults

Australian Book Industry Awards

Shortlisted  •  2009  •  Book of the Year

Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Regional)

Longlisted  •  2009  •  Best First Book

Qld Premier's Literary Award

Shortlisted  •  2009  •  Fiction

Victorian Premier's Literary Award

Shortlisted  •  2009  •  Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction

Kathleen Mitchell Award

Winner  •  2010  •  Prize for Writing for Young Adults