“What I learned was that I needed to surround myself with other writers.“
— Wondra Chang
A member of the Writers’ League since 2017, Wondra lives in San Antonio, TX.
Scribe: Welcome, writer! Tell us — what do you write?
Wondra Chang: Literary Fiction.
Scribe: If you could choose one author to blurb your book, who would it be, and what would you want it to say?
WC: Yasunari Kawabata. I would tell him I wanted to write a quiet but emotionally tumultuous novel like his SNOW COUNTRY, but I couldn’t. Perhaps I’ll get close to it with my next novel.
Scribe: You have one book you’re allowed to push onto all of your friends, and they’re forced to read it to remain your friend — which one would you choose?
WC: AUSTERLITZ by W.G. Sebald because it is so very haunting, beautiful, and provocative; because it makes you reflect on ourselves and our memories. I want my friends to experience the book.
Scribe: Tell us your WLT story.
WC: About ten or eleven years ago, someone told me about WLT Agents & Editors conference. I had my first draft of my novel, SONJU, and was anxious to find out what the book world was like since I wrote it alone without any outside feedback. What I learned was that I needed to surround myself with other writers. In recent years, I have enjoyed attending Texas Writes.
Scribe: Where do you see your writing taking you (or you taking it) in the future?
WC: I want to receive another starred review from Kirkus Reviews.
Scribe: Here at the WLT, we love sharing book recommendations. What’s one book that has come out within the past year that you couldn’t put down? (Bonus points if the book is Texas related!)
WC: VALENTINE by Elisabeth Wetmore.
Scribe: Is there anything else about you that you would like to share with the world? An opportunity for blatant self-promotion!
WC: I am an immigrant from South Korea. From the start, I knew that I have to work harder than others to write a novel in English, my second language. I was learning how to write as I was writing. I am not at all a histrionic person, but when Madville Publishing offered a contract within two days of submitting my debut novel, SONJU, I walked around my living room before I could sit down and reply. Then on June 15th this year, I received a review from Kirkus Reviews. The email said the book cover would be added. My publisher comforted me that the review was positive. During the early hour, I saw the star on my book cover photo. I didn’t wake my sleeping husband but I wrote to my publisher, “There’s a star!”
I am currently working on my second novel.
