The Lounge Chair Interview: 10 Questions with Joshua Ip

By Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé

Let’s get down to brass tacks. Why do you write?

For the money. And the screaming crowds packing stadiums. And the free canapes. And the virgin sacrifices. But mainly it’s the money.

Tell us about your most recent book or writing project. What were you trying to say or achieve with it?

My latest writing project (and late is appropriate, given that it’s been treading water for nearly two years now) is a graphic novel titled Ten Stories Below. It’s about a post-apocalyptic Singapore, after a giant flood drowns 99% of the population and submerges everything below the ten-storey mark underneath the waves. Ordinary people in extraordinary situations – that’s what most drama is about, isn’t it? So I guess I’m just trying to examine the Singaporean condition through a different lens. A big, drippy, sloshy, water-logged lens.