Amra Pajalic

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Amra Pajalic

Goodreads Author


Born
in Melbourne, Australia
Website

Twitter

Genre

Influences

Member Since
May 2011


Amra Pajalić is an award-winning author, educator, and PhD researcher of Bosnian heritage whose work explores how fiction represents the Bosnian genocide.

Amra Pajalić won the 2009 Melbourne Prize for Literature's Civic Choice Award for her debut novel The Good Daughter, now re-released as Sabiha's Dilemma (Pishukin Press, 2022). The anthology she co-edited, Growing up Muslim in Australia (Allen and Unwin, 2014), was shortlisted for the 2015 Children's Book Council of the year awards and her memoir Things Nobody Knows But Me (Transit Lounge, 2019) was shortlisted for the 2020 National Biography Award. Her short story collection The Cuckoo's Song (Pishukin Press, 2022) features previously published and prize-winning stories.

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Amra Pajalic Usually writer's block for me is emotional exhaustion and creative fatigue so I need to take a time out, read some amazing books and slowly re-fill my…moreUsually writer's block for me is emotional exhaustion and creative fatigue so I need to take a time out, read some amazing books and slowly re-fill my creative well. Then I need to give myself permission to write really, really badly in order to write at all. The more I write, even if it's badly, the more the muse comes back to life. Sometimes if I can't write I type lyrics to songs until the little voice in my head returns.(less)
Amra Pajalic When the ghost first made its presence known it was a playful imp that moved my belongings at will. Then it saturated my dreams with its vengeful vist…moreWhen the ghost first made its presence known it was a playful imp that moved my belongings at will. Then it saturated my dreams with its vengeful vistas of violence, until the night I didn't wake.(less)
Average rating: 3.86 · 1,038 ratings · 254 reviews · 27 distinct worksSimilar authors
Coming of Age: Growing up M...

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3.93 avg rating — 199 ratings — published 2014 — 4 editions
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Sabiha's Dilemma (#1 Sassy ...

3.64 avg rating — 159 ratings — published 2009 — 2 editions
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Things Nobody Knows But Me

really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 94 ratings5 editions
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3.88 avg rating — 25 ratings6 editions
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The Cuckoo's Song

4.14 avg rating — 7 ratings6 editions
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Amir: friend on loan (The T...

3.83 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 2014
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Siege

3.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2011 — 2 editions
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More books by Amra Pajalic…

article: the day a teacher walked away

Picture I spoke to Kellie Nissen about the moment she quit teaching.

Not with a plan.
Not at the end of the year.

Just… “I think I might resign.”
“And when?”
“Now.”

And I felt that in my bones.

Because if you’ve been a teacher long enough, that thought lives somewhere inside you.

This conversation turned into something bigger:
– why teachers think they have no transferable skills (we do)
– how aspiring writers get Read more of this blog post »
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Published on April 20, 2026 00:53

Amra’s Recent Updates

Amra Pajalic wrote a new blog post

article: the day a teacher walked away

I spoke to Kellie Nissen about the moment she quit teaching.Not with a plan.Not at the end of the year.Just… “I think I might resign.”“And when?”“Now Read more of this blog post »
Amra Pajalic rated a book it was amazing
Kill Your Husbands by Jack Heath
Kill Your Husbands
by Jack Heath (Goodreads Author)
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Kill Your Husbands is the kind of crime novel that reminds you why the genre works so well when it leans into tension, character, and just enough chaos. Set in the regional town of Warragul, the story drops three couples into a remote country house f ...more
Amra Pajalic wants to read
In a Common Hour by Sita Walker
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Amra Pajalic answered a question about Ghosts Among the Gumtrees:
Ghosts Among the Gumtrees by Amra Pajalic
This novel explores justice versus retribution—if you seek retribution, will you lose your humanity? Memory of war and how it haunts survivors. Genocide denial and the way communities unite under this banner. Refugee displacement and the difficulty i See Full Answer
Amra Pajalic asked a question about Ghosts Among the Gumtrees:
Ghosts Among the Gumtrees by Amra Pajalic
What themes does this novel explore?
Amra Pajalic rated a book it was amazing
The Wrong Woman by J.P. Pomare
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I listened to this as an audiobook and absolutely loved it.

Told through dual perspectives, the story follows DeShona—passive, frustrating, but ultimately effective as a character—and Reid, an insurance investigator returning to his hometown to determ
...more
Amra Pajalic rated a book it was amazing
Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin   Stevenson
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A fun read that satirises the genre of crime fiction and yet is so satisfying. Ernest is an accidental writer after a series of unfortunate events occur that lead him to write his first true crime novel. Now he's fighting to write a second book on a ...more
Amra Pajalic rated a book it was amazing
Witch Power by Emma Quilty
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I met Emma at an event where she read an extract of her book and was immediately intrigued. I knew I wanted to buy her book for my daughter, and after she read it, she urged me to read it.

I loved this interrogation of witches in society, and her sear
...more
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Quotes by Amra Pajalic  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“She was a victim of her own brain chemistry, and as her daughter my role was to accept and love her for who she was, not who I wanted her to to be.”
Amra Pajalic, Things Nobody Knows But Me

“Our mother was different, but that’s what we liked about her. While other children had strict routines and consequences, we had freedom and frivolity— and we didn’t want the party to end.”
Amra Pajalic, Things Nobody Knows But Me

“While I’d had many upheavals during my young life, the one constant and been my mother. Now that she was in another country and completely lost to me, I realised how much she was a part of me. Missing her was like a physical ache that I could not assuage.”
Amra Pajalic, Things Nobody Knows But Me

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“God is the color of water. Water doesn't have a color.”
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“I asked her if I was black or white. She replied "You are a human being. Educate yourself or you'll be a nobody!”
James McBride, The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother

“It was always so hot, and everyone was so polite, and everything was all surface but underneath it was like a bomb waiting to go off. I always felt that way about the South, that beneath the smiles and southern hospitality and politeness were a lot of guns and liquor and secrets.”
James McBride, The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother

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“Ages fourteen to eighteen, a girl needs something to kill all that time, that endless itchy waiting, every hour, every day for something — anything — to begin.”
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Harlequin Books Hello Amra, it is a pleasure to meet you. If you ever have any questions about Harlequin or our books, please feel free to ask.

Kim S, Harlequin Books ambassador


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