Channelling hardships and British Chinese identity through writing, with Sue Cheung
Choon Young Tan
CHOON. Writer. Speaker. Consultant | Diversity Power List 2023/24 honouree | EDI Advisor | Workplace culture specialist | ESEA community and representation advocate | A voice for LGBTQ rights
It’s been nearly four years since Sue Pickford Cheung ’s debut YA novel Chinglish hit the shelves and in that time a lot has happened. From winning several awards for it, releasing two books in the Maddy Yip’s Guide to... series (with a third out this April), working on a sequel to Chinglish and a TV adaptation to the first book, Sue Cheung’s prominence as one of the UK’s first and most well known British Chinese or East Asian authors has only grown and will continue to.
For the first proper edition of The ESEA Echo, I had the pleasure of speaking with Sue again after my first interview with her for Resonate to talk a bit more about what we can expect in the highly anticipated Chinglish 2 as well as some of the barriers she faced to becoming an author in the first place and any advice she has for ambitious young writers from the ESEA community - including myself! We also talk about the adversaries that used to face British Chinese people like us growing up and sometimes continue to, how she has overcome them and navigated her identity throughout the years.
Watch the full interview below and please do subscribe to the YouTube channel as well to keep up to date with further videos and interviews from The ESEA Echo! Also, if you're a "takeaway kid" like Sue was, get in touch with her as she'd love to connect with you and hear your stories too.
Photo credit of Sue: Jennifer Lo
Works for Meli? Hotels International
1 年Great work again. So proud of you ??
Creative Specialist
1 年Thank you Choon, for bringing conversations like this to light - your work is huge. I'm always surprised when described as a prominent figure in the ESEA community though, as I'm mostly scribbling away in my attic on my own. But I do know that what I create is helping in some small way - so as the Zen proverb goes, I'll continue to chop wood and carry water!