Interview: Clara Ng

Q: What drew you to writing, and what made you want to write novels and children’s books? I grew up with books, although I didn’t have a whole room of books dedicated as a personal library. I read mostly novels, and some comics. I used to write down stories I heard from my mother and kept a journal in a locked drawer. When I was in the States, the boundaries of my reading became wider and I discovered “Moby Dick.” It was an amazing experience that, later in my life, took me to the path of writing. The first time I read a children’s picture book that changed my life was when I was in a downtown library. It was “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein. That book was forever the one that drew me into writing for children.