Dirt Poor Islanders

A powerful, insightful and provocative debut novel that explores the challenge of finding a way to be true to yourself and your roots without ignoring where you have come from or denying where you want to go.

WINNER OF THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD BEST YOUNG NOVELISTS AWARD 2025WINNER OF THE KATHLEEN MITCHELL AWARD 2025SHORTLISTED FOR THE MILES FRANKLIN LITERARY AWARD 2025SHORTLISTED FOR THE MULTICULTURAL NSW AWARD 2025SHORTLISTED FOR THE UTS GLENDA ADAMS AWARD FOR NEW WRITING 2025'Islanders must do everything together. We painted ngatu together. We crossed the ocean together. We settled on isles together. We lived with generations upon generations stacked in fibro houses together. We became half-White together. We stayed poor together. Together. Together. Together.' For Meadow Reed, a half-Tongan, half-White girl, the world is bigger than the togetherness she has grown up in. Finding her way means pushing against the constraints of tradition, family and self until she becomes whole in her own right. Meadow is going to see that being a dirt poor Islander girl is more beautiful than she can even begin to imagine. 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. 'a loving, yet challenging, portrait of the Tongan-Australian community . . . this is truly groundbreaking fiction' MELISSA LUCASHENKO, Miles Franklin winning author of Too Much Lip 'ferocious and tender . . . no one is spared and so much is revealed, including the complexity and power of being Tongan.' SHANKARI CHANDRAN, Miles Franklin winning author of Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens 'A fresh and vital new voice. The language dances on the page and creates vibrant characters alive and dripping with life.' FAVEL PARRETT, Miles Franklin shortlisted author of Past the Shallows 'I couldn't put it down. I laughed and I cried and I could smell the food and picture the places. Groundbreaking. Powerful. Brilliant. Masterpiece.' SELA AHOSIVI-ATIOLA 'a perceptive, provocative and personal exploration of growing up in a multicultural family . . . Dirt Poor Islanders is an impressive piece of autobiographic fiction' Weekend Australian 'vibrant . . . Dunn is a lively writer with a laid back sense of humour and a sharp eye for detail. Dirt Poor Islanders blends cultural collision and coming of age, and expands a field of Australian fiction that went mainstream with Christos Tsiolkas' Loaded.' Sydney Morning Herald 'In a beautiful warts-and-all way, Dunn shines a light on her Tongan-Australian upbringing' Daily Telegraph 'Fearless' The Australian Women's Weekly