Kevin Kwan
Kevin Kwan
Kevin Kwan is a Singaporean novelist best known for his satirical novels Crazy Rich Asians and China Rich Girlfriend. In 2014, Kwan was named as one of the "Five Writers to Watch" on The Hollywood Reporter's list of Hollywood's Most Powerful Authors...
NationalitySingaporean
ProfessionNovelist
CountrySingapore
believe characters writers
Writers often say that characters begin to write themselves, and I never used to believe that. I always thought that was complete hogwash.
born child conceived following life likes shop shopping
My mother likes to say that I was conceived to shop - not just born to shop. My whole life as a child was following her and her sister and friends around on her shopping trips.
asian children either husbands men supposed versions
Living in the West, you see how there's only two versions of how Asian men are supposed to be. Either they're very nice, yuppie husbands with children in ads, or they're IT geeks.
customs oldest rank snobbery themselves ways
I think snobbery is one of the oldest customs in the world, and the rich will always find ways to rank each other and make themselves feel more special than others.
buy huge millions money showing validate
Such huge money has been made in China - it can be hundreds of millions in a year - and there's a need to validate it by showing what they can buy and how much of it.
beautiful books food maybe mouths readers water
My books are comedies; I want to take my readers on a jet-setting romp, make them laugh, make them swoon at the beautiful settings, and maybe even make their mouths water at all the food.
chinese looked might sure written
I'm not sure if being Chinese really helped, but I do think that if a non-Asian had written a book called 'Crazy Rich Asians,' they might not have been looked upon so kindly.
connected deeply felt finally finding finds french house matches met names streets
I met a Shanghai photographer who finds these old streets and matches the French names to what they are today. I was able to find my grandfather's block, and just walking the same streets and finding his house was deeply moving. I finally felt connected to China.
asian barrier family father geek last mobile phone science types using
It used to be, on TV, you'd see only two types of Asians. You'd see the science geek who's using his mobile phone or something like that, or you'd see a very token Asian family - yuppie mother and father and two little Asian kids. It's the last barrier for Hollywood.
comic families
To me, families are fascinating. I choose to explore it through comedy and through comic situations.
asian emphasis family might nobody perspective southeast
There's so much emphasis on the economic might of China, of Southeast Asia, Asian 'Super Tigers' and things like that. But nobody was really looking from the perspective of a family story, of these individuals.
lives longer people simply though
A lot of the people who live the lives of 'Crazy Rich Asians' don't see the humour of their lives simply because this is just who they are. Even though I'm from that part of the world, I'm no longer part of that world.
full garage house middle normal pond private room
It's not normal to go into a house and see a pond in the middle of the living room full of baby sharks. It's not normal to go to someone's garage and see a private plane.
chinese money relating side sort southeast ways
I sort of wanted to reveal this other side of Asia: Southeast Asia, where the Chinese have been wealthy for generations and have different ways of relating to money. I wanted to sort of reveal this world to readers.