Katie Goes to KL by Su-May Tan
A coming-of-age tale of love and cultural reconnection set in modern-day Kuala Lumpur.
Katie Chen, 16, lives in the unremarkable suburb of Narre Warren in Australia with her somewhat reclusive Malaysian father. Coming to Australia when she was 5 and losing her mother at 7, she has always struggled with issues of identity.
One day, she goes back to Malaysia for her grandmother’s funeral and discovers that her mother – long-thought-dead – is alive. Set in a fictionalised Kuala Lumpur (KL), Katie struggles to reconnect with her mother whom she discovers is Malay.
Navigating KL’s underground music scene and the underlying tensions of a country she doesn’t understand, how far is Katie willing to go to find a place to belong?
Katie Chen, 16, lives in the unremarkable suburb of Narre Warren in Australia with her somewhat reclusive Malaysian father. Coming to Australia when she was 5 and losing her mother at 7, she has always struggled with issues of identity.
One day, she goes back to Malaysia for her grandmother’s funeral and discovers that her mother – long-thought-dead – is alive. Set in a fictionalised Kuala Lumpur (KL), Katie struggles to reconnect with her mother whom she discovers is Malay.
Navigating KL’s underground music scene and the underlying tensions of a country she doesn’t understand, how far is Katie willing to go to find a place to belong?