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Award Winning Author
KGSHAK AKEC
Hopeless Kingdom
(2022)
Shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award 2023
Akita’s family have always kept moving to survive. Sudan to Cairo. Cairo to Sydney. Sydney to Geelong. At each new place, challenges test and break Akita, her four siblings and her parents. Just when eight-year-old Akita is feeling settled at her new school and community in Sydney for the first time in her life, her parents decide to relocate to Geelong to be closer to their Sudanese relatives. The move is the beginning of a downward spiral that threatens to unravel the fabric of their family and any hope for finding peace and belonging.
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"A shining debut novel. Akec’s prose is captivating and draws you in. The book introduces a powerful new voice in Australian literature through its lens of compassion and hope."
Nasteho Said
Kill Your Darlings Magazine
Praise
&
Reviews
"Hopeless Kingdom has much to say about the migrant experience and the process of making a new home. But the novel is not just about that. It is also a generously imagined and deeply affecting portrait of family and growing into oneself. "
Ned Hirst
ArtsHub
"This is absolutely for those who love a character-driven story centred around complex family relationships but honestly, I just want to push it into the hands of everyone I know."
Camella
An Open Bookshelf
About Kgshak Akec
Kgshak Akec is a South-Sudanese writer, performing artist, storyteller, and a lover of words. Since the moment she learned how to write in English at the age of six, Kgshak has been writing out the stories that live inside her mind. As a migrant and non-native English speaker, Kgshak is fascinated by the unspoken words and unsung songs of the day-to-day, she finds herself drawn to stories that challenge perception and go against the grain of the expected while also being grounded in truth. Her debut novel Hopeless Kingdom, inspired by her own journey of migrating to Australia, explores the relationship of a mother and daughter as they settle, break, evolve, and adapt in new lands through multiple heartaches and triumphs.