Michelle Aung Thin


Photo of Michelle Aung Thin
Michelle Aung Thin was born in Rangoon, Burma (now Yangon, Myanmar) in the year of the military coup (1962). She left with her parents when she was a baby, and her family settled in Ottawa, Canada, where she grew up as the eldest of four siblings. She worked as a copywriter in London advertising agencies and now teaches writing at RMIT University in Melbourne Australia, where she lives with her husband, son and dog, Oliver.

Her first book, The Monsoon Bride, is set in colonial Rangoon. As an unpublished manuscript, it was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards and received a Readings Foundation/Wheeler Centre Fellowship.

Hasina: Through My Eyes, Michelle’s first young adult novel, is a gripping story of one child’s experience of the refugee crisis in Myanmar. Hasina is part of the Through My Eyes young adult series highlighting the courage and resilience of refugee children in contemporary war zones. 

Michelle has a PhD from the University of Adelaide. Her academic work explores authenticity, intimacy and belonging in mixed-race representation; creative narrative; postcolonial theory; mobility; mobile phones; and Burma/Myanmar. Her essays and other creative work have been published in Overland, SBS Life, Double Dialogues, New Scholar, International Journal of Postcolonial Studies, and elsewhere.

Nationality: Australian

Featured series by Michelle Aung Thin


Through My Eyes - Age 11 & up