Plastic Budgie

Winner of Readings Prize for Fiction 2026

Olivia De Zilva's Plastic Budgie is a brutally funny and inventive debut about family and self, full of itchy Y2K nostalgia, curses and glimpses of birds.

âThere was no use googling am I cursed because the search engine algorithm would always say yes.â

Olivia was named after a lycra-clad singer her parents saw on Rage. As a child, she lost the ability to speak and spent a year barking like a dog. Her Gong Gong bought her a yellow bird in a shoebox from the Adelaide Central Markets. Her heart was broken by a guitar teacher after a school disco. She started university and learnt to run and travelled to Guangzhou for her cousinâs wedding.

In her genre-defying debut, Olivia De Zilva collects stories on shelves: neat coming-of-age anecdotes and sitcom characters trapped behind glass.

Then she breaks it all apart.

Plastic Budgie questions how our memories and families form us, in a way that is both unapologetically sentimental and eternally surprising.

'Funny and brutal and tender and lovely ⦠De Zilva has the native talent of the true writer.' Declan Fry, ABC Best Books of 2025

âA concise and affective representation of becoming in the contemporary world. De Zilva is an impressive new voice and has revitalised an excessively written genre with distinction.â â" Hellai Gul, Meanjin

âDoes not deliver a narrative that is safe, predictable or neatly structured, nor does it wrangle together a conventionally satisfying resolution; rather, it puts all the elements of second-generation immigrant memoir on the table and confronts readers with the instability of meaning and with their own expectations of the story.â â" Fernanda Dahlstrom, Mascara Literary Review

âA powerful, unique voice ⦠polished, well-realised and deftly woven together.â â" Elaine Chennatt, Aniko Press

âAchingly funny and cleverly inventive.â â" The Australian Womenâs Weekly

âDe Zilva proves herself as a literary force and pushes the boundaries of fiction and memoir.â â" Grace Gooda, Readings

âThe authorâs evolving sense of self is beautifully and vividly portrayed; a well-layered and emotionally engaging novel.â â" Rebecca Wu, Glam Adelaide

'De Zilvaâs writing is laced with dark wit and is emotionally devastating in equal measure; she has a voice that is bold, bright and steeped in complicated nostalgia ... De Zilvaâs humour and unflinching honesty make the book compulsively readable, perfect for anyone who grew up feeling a little out of place.' â" Books+Publishing

'A searching and companionable coming-of-age story that combines vulnerability and restraint, directness and discretion. Olivia De Zilva writes about loneliness and disruption with great humour and sensitivity.' â" Shannon Burns

'De Zilva is a marvellous writer, effortlessly funny and yet able to pull off heartrending and meaningful scenes. Definitely a talent to watch.' â" Matthew Hooton