That I can write backwards – ie right to left. That’s how I thought left-handed people like me were SUPPOSED to do it!
2. What is your nickname?
Mimi.
3. What is your greatest fear?
I am quite scared of things that slither.
3. Describe your writing style in 10 words.
take my time. Writing is about rewriting. I also think about writing as a bit like making music – all about rhythm.
4. Tell us five positive words that describe you as a writer.
Imaginative. Deep. Funny (sometimes). Honest. Pacey.
5. What book character would you be, and why?
I’d be Snufkin in the Moomin books. So enigmatic and cool.
6. If you could time travel, what year would you go to and why?
I would like to see what life was like before TV. I grew up with it.
7. What would your 10-year-old self say to you now?
You’re not as tall as I expected you to be.
8. Who is your greatest influence?
My son, Julian.
9. What/who made you start writing?
I loved poems when I was a kid and used to read them in bed when I was sick. My teacher read one of the poems I wrote aloud. That was in grade 5 and that was when I knew that it was not only possible to be a writer but that I already was one!
10. What is your favourite word and why?
I love the word cleave because it means to stick together and slice apart.
11. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Probably the dictionary. Online.
Michelle Aung Thin was born in Burma, now Myanmar, in the year of the military coup and left with her parents when she was an infant. She grew up in Canada, worked as an advertising copywriter in London and now calls Australia home. Her first book, The Monsoon Bride, is set in colonial Rangoon. She is finalising a book about the cosmopolitan history of the city, which she researched in the Luce Collection at the National Library of Australia. She likes travel and the outdoors and Melbourne coffee. Michelle currently teaches at RMIT University. Her latest book, Hasina: Through My Eyes – a gripping story of one child’s experience of the refugee crisis in Myanmar – was published in September 2019. For more information, see www.michelleaungthin.com.
