What do we carry with us? And what do we leave behind?
The English Language Centre at The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong is honoured to host acclaimed Asian-Australian author Olivia De Zilva for a special talk on her poignant and darkly comic debut novel, Plastic Budgie (Pink Shorts Press, 2025).
Date: 9 October 2025 (Thursday)
Time: 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Venue: Lecture Hall CR002, Creative Humanities Hub
Registration: Complete this online form to reserve a seat. Available on a first-come-first-served basis
Remarks: 1 iGPS unit will be awarded to undergraduate students who attend the author talk
Author Talk
Plastic Budgie questions how our memories and families form us in a way that is both unapologetically sentimental and eternally surprising.
Olivia was named after a lycra-clad singer her parents saw on Rage. As a child, she lost the ability to speak and spent a year barking like a dog. Her Gong Gong bought her a yellow bird in a shoebox from the Adelaide Central Markets. Her heart was broken by a guitar teacher after a school disco. She started university and learnt to run and travelled to Guangzhou for her cousin’s wedding.
In her brutally funny, genre-defying debut, Olivia De Zilva collects stories on shelves: neat coming-of-age anecdotes and sitcom characters trapped behind glass. Then she breaks it all apart.
Join us for an afternoon conversation led by Dr. Belle Ling from the Department of English to hear De Zilva’s delving into the interplay between memory and identity, in particular, themes on itching Y2K nostalgia, curses, glimpses of birds, diaspora, and the concept of “home.”
This event is a must for anyone interested in contemporary fiction, cross-cultural narratives, and the stories that shape who we are.
Bio:
Olivia De Zilva is a writer based in Kaurna Yerta (Adelaide). Her novel Plastic Budgie was released in July 2025 by Pink Shorts Press. Her novella Eggshell will be released by Spineless Wonders in November 2025. Her fiction and essays have appeared in The Guardian, SBS, The Saturday Paper, Mascara Literary Review and many other publications. Olivia’s writing has been shortlisted by the Richell Prize, The Kat Muscat Fellowship, The Deborah Cass award and recently, was the inaugural winner of the AAWP Novella Prize.
Author Website: https://oliviadezilva.com/
