“The stories in this anthology are special because they capture the school experience with rare authenticity. These are not adults writing about teenagers, but real young adult writers.” —Alice Pung

Award-winning author Alice Pung has selected 25 diverse stories written by high school students inspired by her bestselling YA novel, Laurinda. The collection features an impressive range of genres by exciting new voices, exploring themes as varied as intergenerational friendship, cultural identity, bullying and heartbreak. From epiphanies on an African safari to trying to cope with the death of a parent, from a prank gone wrong to finding love in unexpected places, the stories in My First Lesson are vivid and imaginative, funny and surprising, poetic and moving.

Alice Pung is the author of Unpolished Gem, Her Father’s Daughter and the editor of the anthology Growing Up Asian in Australia. Her first novel, Laurinda, won the Ethel Turner Prize at the 2016 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards.