Name: Zen Cho

Website: https://zencho.org

Asian background: Chinese Malaysian based in the UK

What is it about your experience and upbringing that inspired you the most to write?

I had a very sheltered childhood with loving but overprotective parents and spent a lot of time extremely bored at home. My main diversion was reading, so I read voraciously. Books made me, so I ended up wanting to make them.

Name 3 authors and 3 books

Karen Lord, Redemption in Indigo
Patrick O’Brian, HMS Surprise
Kao Kalia Yang, The Latehomecomer

What do you think is the best quality a writer can have?
In order to succeed in a writing career, perseverance. To write a book that I will love, a sense of humour.

Any last words? (Fun facts, comments, something you’d like to share with the world, etc.)
In the nineteenth century the island of Penang in Malaysia was the destination for many convicts sentenced by the British colonial administration to transportation from India, but also from Sri Lanka and Hong Kong, and they helped build the infrastructure of the island.

Challenge: Write a one-sentence story!

“I could,” she said, “but I’d rather not.”