Arlene J. Chai (born 1955) is a

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

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author.

Biography

Arlene J. Chai was born in 1955 in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

, Philippines. She is

by birth,

by ethnicity and migrated to Australia with her parents and sisters in 1982 because of the political upheaval. She became an advertising

copywriter Copywriting is the act or occupation of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing. The product, called copy or sales copy, is written content that aims to increase brand awareness and ultimately persuade a person or ...

at George Patterson's advertising agency in 1972 and has been working there since. It is there that she met her mentor

Bryce Courtney Arthur Bryce Courtenay, (14 August 1933 – 22 November 2012) was a South African-Australian advertising director and novelist. He is one of Australia's best-selling authors, notable for his book '' The Power of One''. Background and early ye ...

, who continuously inspires her to improve her work. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from

Maryknoll College Miriam College ( fil, Dalubhasaang Miriam) is a non-stock, non-profit Filipino Catholic educational institution for girls and young women in Quezon City, Philippines. It offers academic programs from pre-elementary to post-graduate and adult e ...

. She is infamous for her ability to weave the political struggle of the Philippines so well into her fiction, so much that she is often compared with

Isabel Allende Isabel Angélica Allende Llona (; born in Lima, 2 August 1942) is a Chilean writer. Allende, whose works sometimes contain aspects of the genre magical realism, is known for novels such as ''The House of the Spirits'' (''La casa de los espír ...

, a successful magical realist

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

an novelist. Some of her works are her novels: ''The Last Time I saw my Mother'' and ''Eating Fire and Drinking Water''.

Awards

She won the Louis Braille Adult Audio Book of the year for her novel ''On the Goddess Rock'' in 1999.

References

External links

Arlene J. Chai , Penguin Random House

Arlene J. Chai , AustLit: Discover Australian Stories
1955 births Living people Filipino women novelists Filipino novelists Filipino emigrants to Australia Filipino people of Chinese descent Australian women novelists Australian people of Chinese descent 20th-century Australian novelists 20th-century Australian women writers Miriam College alumni {{Philippines-writer-stub