Winnie Dunn releases debut novel

"Islanders must do everything together. We painted ngatu together. We crossed the ocean together. We settled on isles together. We took up Christianity together. We entered into new citizenships together. We became wage workers together. We lived with generations upon generations stacked in fibro houses together. We became half-White together. We got nits together. We sooked together. We stayed poor together. Together. Together. Together."

Sweatshop writer, editor and general manager Winnie Dunn, has released her debut novel, Dirt Poor Islanders, published by Hachette Australia. It is the first novel to be written by an Australian author of Tongan heritage.

Dirt Poor Islanders is a potent, mesmerising novel that opens our eyes to the brutal fractures navigated when growing up between two cultures and the importance of understanding all the many pieces of yourself. Miles Franklin Award-winning author, Melissa Lucashenko described Dunn's work as 'a loving, yet challenging, portrait of the Tongan-Australian community . . . this is truly groundbreaking fiction.'

Winnie Dunn's new novel is another significant milestone for the writers of Sweatshop, as Dirt Poor Islanders follows the critically acclaimed debut works of fiction, Funny Ethnics by Shirley Le and Songs for the Dead and the Living by Sara M. Saleh.

Dirt Poor Islanders is available now in all good bookstores.