Each year, the Writing University conducts interviews with writers while they are in Iowa City participating in the International Writing Program's fall residency. We sit down with authors to ask about their work, their process and their descriptions of home. Today we are talking with Agnes CHEW 周昀蒨, a fiction and nonfiction writer from Singapore.
Agnes CHEW 周昀蒨 (fiction and nonfiction writer; Singapore) is the author of the fiction collection, Eternal Summer of My Homeland (2023), which was longlisted for The Asian Prize for Fiction, shortlisted for the POPULAR Readers’ Choice Award, and a national bestseller in Singapore; and the essay collection, The Desire for Elsewhere (2016). Her fiction has won the 2023 Commonwealth Short Story Prize (Asia), and has been published or is forthcoming in Granta, Necessary Fiction, and Best New Singaporean Short Stories, among others. She has received scholarships from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Tin House, Granta Writers’ Workshop, and more. She is currently working on her first novel, which has been longlisted for the 2025 Goldfinch Novel Award. Her participation is funded by the National Arts Council Singapore.
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1. Do you have a plan or project in mind for your time at the residency?
My plan was to work on the revisions to my novel, but during the initial period of the residency, I found myself absorbed in writing a new short story instead.
2. What does your daily practice look like for your writing? Do you have a certain time when you write? Any specific routine?
I work best in the early morning and in the quiet of the night; this is when my mind is the clearest, and I can write with intense focus for several hours. While I usually start my mornings with a large pot of black tea, in Iowa City, I found pleasure in sipping iced lattes from various cafes. That aside, I don’t have a specific routine.
3. What are you currently reading right now? Are you reading for research or pleasure?
I recently finished reading Madeleine Thien’s The Book of Records, a deeply moving masterpiece I’d recommend with all my heart. I’m now reading Xi Xi’s Mourning a Breast (translated into English by Jennifer Feeley), on the recommendation of another IWP writer from Hong Kong. On craft, I’m reading Stacey D'Erasmo’s The Art of Intimacy and James Wood’s How Fiction Works.
4. What is one thing the readers and writers of Iowa City should know about you and your work?
The themes of gender, identity, and belonging permeate my writing. My stories often explore the sacrifices people make when duty and desire collide. In writing fiction, I often draw on both personal experience and academic research.
5. Tell us a bit about where you are from - share some favorite details about your home.
I was born and raised in Singapore, a multicultural city-state in Southeast Asia. Having lived in London, Vienna, and Germany, the one thing I miss most about my home country while abroad—apart from my family and friends—is the food.
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Thank you so much Agnes!