What does it take to keep showing up to the blank page? Award-winning author Alice Pung offers reasons for optimism in this year’s E. W. Cole Lecture. 

Originally presented on Thursday 6 August 2026 by The Wheeler Centre, supported by the E. W. Cole Foundation.

Two decades ago, Alice Pung published Unpolished Gem, a funny, loving and irreverent portrait of a migrant family’s everyday struggles and bittersweet triumphs. 

In celebration of the 20th anniversary of her beloved debut, Pung presents this year’s E. W. Cole Lecture on a subject near to her heart: the fundamentals of writing and the circumstances under which writers practice their craft. Drawing on knowledge earned from writing 15 books across contemporary fiction, YA, children’s literature and non-fiction, she examines the work that goes into the act of creation and what it takes to carry on writing, day after day.   

Pung speaks on the quiet power of turning up through crises, changing political situations and changing tastes, and what makes it all worthwhile: how writing – and reading – can help us make sense of our lives, and the world at large, now more than ever.

The official bookseller was Amplify Bookstore.

Featured music is Br1ghter (Instrumental Version) by Tape Machines.

What does it take to keep showing up to the blank page? Award-winning author Alice Pung offers reasons for optimism in this year&rsquo;s E. W. Cole Lecture. Originally presented on Thursday 6 August 2026 by The Wheeler Centre, supported by the E. W. Cole Foundation.   Two decades ago, Alice Pung published Unpolished Gem, a funny, loving and irreverent portrait of a migrant family&rsquo;s everyday struggles and bittersweet triumphs. In celebration of the 20th anniversary of her beloved debut, Pung presents this year&rsquo;s E. W. Cole Lecture on a subject near to her heart: the fundamentals of writing and the circumstances under which writers practice their craft. Drawing on knowledge earned from writing 15 books across contemporary fiction, YA, children&rsquo;s literature and non-fiction, she examines the work that goes into the act of creation and what it takes to carry on writing, day after day.   Pung speaks on the quiet power of turning up through crises, changing political situations and changing tastes, and what makes it all worthwhile: how writing &ndash; and reading &ndash; can help us make sense of our lives, and the world at large, now more than ever. The official bookseller was Amplify Bookstore. Featured music is Br1ghter (Instrumental Version) by Tape Machines.

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