Joyce Chua
Author Interview - Joyce Chua
Author of Land of Sand and Song
Land of Sand and Song is a YA Asian fantasy novel that tells the story of a desert girl who sets out to assassinate the corrupt Oasis Emperor after her chieftain father is overthrown by the desert clan leaders working with the emperor. The reason? To find a magical spring that supposedly contains the elixir of life. There's forbidden magic, slow-burn romance, conflicted princes, revenge, betrayal, and at the center of it all a girl who discovers her own nascent powers.
Author Interview - Joyce Chua
Author I draw inspiration from: Leigh Bardugo - her prose is just perfection, and she does character backstory so well!
Author Interview - Joyce Chua | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book: My bed.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with: Nina Zenik (Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo) or Holden Caufield (Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger). Nina would be the best female friend you can talk about anything with over waffles, and Holden would offer his most unfiltered opinion about everything.
Author Interview - Joyce Chua | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author: When I was 12 and wrote my first novel (a Nancy Drew-style murder mystery). The novel was terrible, but I fell in love with the process of writing a novel and the rest is history.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook: There's something about a nice, soft paperback you can tuck into your purse that trumps every other version of a book for me.
The last book I read: The Boy Who Belonged to the Sea by Denis Thériault, and The Last Voyage of Poe Blythe by Ally Condie. The former is delightful and whimsical, the latter intense, dramatic and utterly engrossing.
Author Interview - Joyce Chua | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer: Computer - it's just more convenient and I don't have to face my monstrous handwriting!
Book character I think I’d be best friends with: Inej Gafar (Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo) or Desert Rose (the protagonist of my book). Inej is empathetic and non-judgmental, I feel like she is someone you can pour out your soul too. And my girl Desert Rose is always up for an adventure and will always have your back.
Author Interview - Joyce Chua | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a: magazine editor.
Favorite decade in fashion history: The 60s, with its mini shift dresses, cat-eye makeup, and high boots!
Place I’d most like to travel: Provence, France
My signature drink: Chamomile lavender tea
Favorite artist: Vermeer - he makes ordinary, day-to-day scenes look so romantic.
Number one on my bucket list: Visit France! (I had a trip planned in 2020, but couldn't make it for obvious reasons.)
Anything else you'd like to add: Book that changed my life (and made me first dream of becoming an author at age 8): Little Women
I'm a pantser who had to learn to love plotting.
I get my best ideas while swimming.
Find more from the author:
Instagram: @joycechuawrites
Author Bio: Joyce graduated from the National University of Singapore with a degree in English, and is now a sub-editor by day and author by night. Her short stories can be found at Muse in Pocket, Pen in Hand, and her first book, Lambs for Dinner (Straits Times Press, 2013), was one of the five winners in a nationwide novel writing competition. Land of Sand and Song is the first installment of the Children of the Desert trilogy published by Penguin Random House SEA.
