january-2011

PHOTOS MANDY TAY AND GASPER TRINGALE (JANICE LEE PORTRAIT)
The hit debut novelist
Janice YK Lee
Although she was born in Hong Kong,
Janice YK Lee considers herself Korean
even though she lived in Hong Kong till
she was 15. After completing a degree
in English and American literature, she
moved to New York, landed a job at Elle
and then moved on to the now-defunct
Mirabella. Realizing that she wouldn’t
have time to achieve her dream of
writing a novel, she studied writing with
Chang-rae Lee at the Hunter College
MFA program, where she wrote short
W RITE THIS WAY
fi ction. Long story short, she ended up
moving back to Hong Kong with her
husband to raise her family, all the while
working on what was to be her fi rst
published novel, The Piano Teacher.
Her aff air with the city
“I was born and raised here so it is very
special to me. Hong Kong welcomes
citizens of all stripes. It is a cosmopolitan
city where you can be at a dinner party
with Americans, Indians, French, and
everyone understands each other. It is
the place of my birth, my upbringing, the
place I live now as an adult. It is layered
with all those things: my childhood, my
family, the British and American schools
I went to, memories of being a teenager
here, and now, the place where I am
raising my family. It is a vibrant city, full
of striving people with dreams, and that
is always energizing. People come to
Hong Kong to make new lives.”
The write stuff
“I only have one book, The Piano
Teacher, but it is set in WWII Hong Kong
so the city was paramount to the story. I
researched the history in Hong Kong, in
libraries in New York and at Hong Kong
University in Pokfulam, reading old
{ 55 }
Left to right: Sheung
Wan’s Hollywood
Road is home to
antiquities shops,
and the Star Ferry.
Bottom: Novelist
Janice YK Lee.
“In my first novel,
The Piano Teacher,
I did use Hong Kong
a lot,” says Lee.
government manuals, newspapers on
microfi che and memoirs of people who
were living in Hong Kong at the time. I
don’t know if I would say that the city of
Hong Kong has helped me develop as a
writer. I think reading does that. But it did
provide good fodder for the fi ction. I don’t
think it matters where you live, actually.
I think you can be a novelist anywhere
in the world.
In this fi rst novel, The Piano Teacher,
I did use Hong Kong a lot. I’m not sure
if it is in my second book, but it looks to
be that way. I am just at the beginning
of it. The characters are people living in
Hong Kong. I get a lot of work done in
my offi ce at home. I do go to the library
sometimes, but I always fi nd myself
antsy and unable to get a lot done.”
Hong Kong hotspots
“I’m recently obsessed with 208
Duecento Otto, a new Italian restaurant
on Hollywood Road that serves great
pizza and antipasti. Also, I go to Crystal
Jade for spicy thin-sliced pork over fl our
skin and Shanghai mian. I do like to
take the Star Ferry and to walk around
Sheung Wan’s Hollywood Road, which
is home to many antiquities shops and a
burgeoning bar and restaurant scene.”
Tip from the novelist
“I think the most important thing
any writer can do is read. There is
no substitute. It’s like exercise for
writing. Only when you are widely and
diversely read can you even think about
attempting your own book.”