Author Jing-Jing Lee gave a special online master class for us on 11 July 2021, moderated by Karen Kao. You can listen to a recording of the first hour of the class.
The class focused on Jing’s historical novel, How We Disappeared, which portrays the lives of 'comfort women' in Singapore during World War II. We talk about the craft choices Jing made in her novel, sources of inspiration, the delicate art of writing about trauma, weaving together multiple time periods and points of view, the research needed for historical fiction, how to find and work with an agent, and more.
How We Disappearedwas published in 2019 by Oneworld. It has been translated into multiple languages and is also available in ebook and audio formats. You can purchase your copy from most major book retailers. To those based in Amsterdam, we recommend our host bookstore Van Rossum.
ABOUT THESE TEACHERS
Jing-Jing Lee was born and raised in Singapore. She holds a Master’s in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford. Her debut novel How We Disappeared was shortlisted for the 2020 Singapore Literature Prize and long-listed for the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction, the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction and the HWA Debut Crown. She is also the author of the poetry collection And Other Rivers and the novella If I Could Tell You.
Karen Kao is a teacher with the International Writers’ Collective. She is the author of the novel The Dancing Girl and the Turtle, a work of historical fiction set in 1930s Shanghai. Her short story “Mrs Yip” will appear in an anthology of Asian literature in 2021. Karen has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, the VERA and Best of the Net.
Copyright © 2021 Jing-Jing Lee & International Writers' Collective
