Sue Pickford Cheung

Holy crap. If ever I’ve felt like a gatecrasher it is well and truly now. Today, I got the news that I’d been included in The Guardian’s Best Books of the year list (YA) alongside Philip Pullman(!) and Malorie Blackman(!) as well as others in the star-studded list.

When I was writing Chinglish there was no way I imagined the response it’s getting now. I was a lowly, working-class minority lacking what I felt anyway, the background or skills to ever achieve anything this grand. It was just me dumping my angst about being dragged up in a Chinese takeaway. What I enjoyed the most about it though was the serious opportunity to write comedy, I’ve always wanted to succeed at making people laugh and somehow I BLOODY DID IT! What a fabulously surreal way to end the year!