Karen Cheung

What was your favorite book as a child?

I don't know if it's my favourite book, but Jacqueline Wilson’s The Illustrated Mum was the first book that made me cry. Wilson writes children's books, and her fictional worlds are often quite violent — there's this scene towards the end of the book where the narrator's mom, Marigold, has a breakdown and covers herself in white paint. But Wilson's not a cruel writer, there’s always a little bit of magic to her stories. I heard there’s an upcoming sequel to the book, but I don’t know if I’m ready for it.

What was the original reason or motivation why you started writing creatively?

For me, writing has always been an act of seeking connection with others, and that’s what I’m driven by, much more so than the desire to seek a new form or break boundaries stylistically. I don’t know if I distinguish between writing that’s “creative” or not. Maybe it’s because I’m primarily a “creative nonfiction” writer and I’m defensive of the genre, but I don't believe that depicting life with less artifice means it's less of an art form than fiction or poetry. It's just a different choice about how you want to represent life. But I’m maybe less straightforward of a writer than I used to be. When I was a journalist, everything I wrote was very unambiguous because I was worried about being misunderstood. After my master’s at Royal Holloway, I learned to embrace ambiguity, have a little more fun.

What was the most adventurous or thrilling thing you ever did/experienced?

Falling in love, staying in love.

Do you listen to music while reading or writing?

If I’m working outside I often have music on, because Hong Kong’s a very loud city — I have to tune it out with noise-cancelling earphones, but then it’s just passive listening. Every now and then I’d make themed playlists for writing projects. I had one for my first book, and the one I’ve been listening to lately is called Water People. It's the name of a Grouper song, and also the tentative title of the short story collection I’m working on.