Conversations from Byron
The Coconut Children: Vivian Pham in conversation with Cath Keenan
Life in a troubled neighbourhood demands too much too young. But Sonny wouldn’t really know.
Watching the world from her bedroom window, she exists only in second-hand romance novels and falls for any fast-food employee who happens to spare her a glance.
Everything changes with the return of Vince, a boy who became a legend after he was hauled away in handcuffs at fourteen. Sonny and Vince used to be childhood friends. But with all that happened in-between, childhood seems so long ago. It will take two years of juvie, an inebriated grandmother and a porn stash for them to meet again.
In this Conversations from Byron podcast, Vivian talks with friend and Executive Director of Story Factory, Cath Keenan, about being published at 19, and how the stories she was told as a child inspired this novel.
Thanks to Delta Kay, Arakwal Bundjalung woman, for the Welcome to Country on this podcast.
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About the authors
Vivian Pham
Vivian Pham is a Vietnamese-Australian author living in Sydney. Her first novel, The Coconut Children, was published by Penguin Random House in March 2020.
Cath Keenan
Dr Catherine Keenan AM is co-founder and executive director of the Story Factory, a creative writing centre for young people in Sydney. She was 2016 Australian of the Year Local Hero.
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