“I am lucky to belong to a wonderfully supportive writing group that keeps me going.” – Vicky Chong (Chinese Singaporean Author)

Team Kitaab is in conversation with Chinese Singaporean author Vicky Chong as a part of the South Asian Women Writers Feature.

For the whole of March, we will be featuring South Asian Women Writers on Kitaab for the whole of March. You can read the editor’s note to know more about this.

Today, we are featuring Chinese Singaporean author Vicky Chong. Vicky is the author of Racket and Other Stories, by Penguin Random House in 2021. She graduated with Master of Arts – Creative Writing from Goldsmiths’ College, University of London. Her creative non-fiction stories were published in two anthologies by Singapore’s National Library Board.  

Her short story The Uber Driver won third prize in the 2018 Nick Joaquin Literary Awards Asia-Pacific. She had three short stories published in Business Mirror, Philippines. Two short stories were published in the anthologies Letter to my Son and A View of Stars.  Her story ‘Safe Distancing Ambassador’ was published in TBASS 2021 (Kitaab, 2021)

Team Kitaab: How did writing happen to you?

Vicky Chong: I had a flair for writing from a young age, often scoring the highest marks in English composition in secondary school. I enjoyed creative writing and reading my own stories and felt others would too. To get readers, I started with blogs. I also attended many writing classes to learn from local writers.

As a woman writer, I appreciate any new initiatives to promote my work and if Women Writing as a genre helps to attract more readers, I am all for it

vicky chong

Team Kitaab: If you had to introduce someone to your work/s, which books of yours would you ask them to start with?

Vicky Chong: Definitely my first book, Racket and Other Stories, by Penguin (for some juicy stories.) 

Also The Best Asian Short Stories (TBASS) 2021 and 2022 by Kitaab. 

Another anthology you might enjoy is Sampan, published by LaSalle College of the Arts.

Team Kitaab: Share five reads you would recommend from your region/ country.

Vicky Chong: I hate to choose as all women writing Singlits deserve to be featured but these five were my recent reads. (In English and all from Singapore.)

Rain Tree by Mahita Vas 

The River’s Song by Suchen Christine Lim

Big Tree in a Small Pot by Josephine Chia

You Might Want to Marry My Husband by Yap Swi Neo

Soy Sauce for Beginners by Kirstin Chen

Team Kitaab: Your thoughts on Women Writing as a genre. 

Vicky Chong: As a woman writer, I appreciate any new initiatives to promote my work and if Women Writing as a genre helps to attract more readers, I am all for it. Although I am a huge chick-lit and romance fan which many may associate with women writing, having Women Writing as a genre could perhaps sieve the more serious literary fiction from the romance genre and attract new readers.

Team Kitaab: Please talk a bit about your publishing journey.

Vicky Chong: Although I had been published in various magazines since 2007, as a creative writer, my publishing journey really began in 2015 when I was accepted by the National Arts Council (NAC) for the Mentorship Access Program (MAP) for writers. I was privileged to be paired with award-winning Paranakan author Josephine Chia for a year and through her, learned about the various writing courses organized by NLB which led to two stories being published in the anthologies, My Story, My Life, and Feast!, by the National Library Board in Singapore in 2015 and 2016. 

The euphoria of being published is unbelievable, especially after receiving numerous rejections, and I have friends who have given up.

vicky chong

Through MAP, Josephine Chia guided me on my yet-to-be-published novel, Little Cloud of Bukit Brown, which was long-listed for the 2022 Epigram Book Prize. 

In 2017, I enrolled in the inaugural Master of Arts in Creative Writing (MACW) program at LaSalle College of the Arts. I completed my thesis, Racket and Other Stories, under the guidance of thesis supervisor, Professor Darryl Whetter, and this was published by Penguin Random House SEA in 2021.

Local publishers are reluctant to publish novice writers for the high marketing cost needed and I am grateful to the editor at Penguin, Nora Nazerene Abu bakar for taking a chance on me. 

The euphoria of being published is unbelievable, especially after receiving numerous rejections, and I have friends who have given up. I am lucky to belong to a wonderfully supportive writing group that keeps me going.

Team Kitaab: How do you deal with Writer’s Block?

Vicky Chong: Yoga helps. The calm from practising yoga is perhaps the reason I rarely get writer’s block. 

Disclaimer: All pictures are copyright of the author/s unless otherwise.