The Boat

Author(s): Nam Le

Australian Fiction | Short Stories

A dazzling, emotionally riveting debut collection: the seven stories in Nam Le's The Boat take us across the globe as he enters the hearts and minds of characters from all over the world.Whether Nam Le is conjuring the story of 14-year-old Juan, a hit man in Colombia; or an aging painter mourning the death of his much-younger lover; or a young refugee fleeing Vietnam, crammed in the ship's hold with 200 others, the result is unexpectedly moving and powerful. This is an extraordinary work of fiction that takes us to the heart of what it means to be human, and announces a writer of astonishing talent.


Product Information

Winner of NSW Premier's Literary Awards: UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing 2009 and NSW Premier's Literary Award Book of the Year 2009. Shortlisted for Nielsen BookData/ABA Book of the Year Award - Booksellers' Choice 2009.

Nam Le's first book, The Boat, received the Australian Prime Minister's Literary Award, the Melbourne Prize (Best Writing Award), the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and the PEN/Malamud Award, among other honours. It was selected as a New York Times Notable Book and Editor's Choice, the best debut of 2008 by the Australian Book Review and New York Magazine, and a book of the year by The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, The Herald Sun, The Monthly, and numerous sources around the world. The Boat has been translated into thirteen languages and its stories widely anthologised. Le is the fiction editor of the Harvard Review.

General Fields

  • : 9780143009610
  • : Penguin Random House
  • : Penguin Books Ltd
  • : February 2009
  • : December 2013
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Nam Le
  • : Paperback