When Jidanun Lueangpiansamut sat down in front of me, we had a purple book rested between us on a glass table. On its cover, a green silhouette of a timid lion stood out from a roaring crowd -- quite an appropriate design considering its title: Singto Nok Kok. The lion doesn't fit in or conform with the rest of the pack.
While a befitting title for the book, a collection of nine short stories filled with allegories that question and challenge ideologies and beliefs that exist within society, the name also seems to be a reflection of its author: the 25-year-old woman sitting across from me.
It can be said that Jidanun is not your typical woman -- nor a typical writer -- in her 20s. She is interested in philosophy, which she said was her favourite subject at university while majoring in the Russian language. She began writing at age 12, and in those early years her stories were made up of fantasy and magic. Thirteen years later, she became the youngest SEA Write Award winner with Singto Nok Kok. The things she likes to read include Fa Poonvoralak's conceptual art pieces and Japanese manga. And on the other side of her literary persona, she also writes gay novels.
To this day, she still remembers the first book she read.
"It was back when I was in Grade 1," said Jidanun. That first spark of imagination came in the Thai translation of The Amazing Adventures Of Chilly Billy by Peter Mayle -- a story about a tiny creature living inside a refrigerator. "I was so into it that I would sneak around, trying to open our family's fridge quickly to see if I could catch anybody inside."
Her favourite book is Aimee Bender's The Particular Sadness Of Lemon Cake -- a story about a girl who can taste the emotion of the person who cooks the food she eats.
"I like stories with a bit of magic in them," said the young writer.
And the magic and fantasy are alive in her award-winning book. Turning the pages, readers are faced with fictional works that include stories of a community's morale in dealing with a deadly winter where they end up eating human flesh and burning books for warmth, a family that locks itself inside an air raid shelter for fear of an imaginary war, and an account of discrimination and racial segregation between people with black and white eyeballs.
"Each story usually starts with a philosophical question or certain issue, from something I encountered in life or learned in class. Then I'll create a story to convey that issue, setting the core theme and building a story around it," she said. "It is something that you can think beyond and take the content further on your own. You may see it the way I see it, or you could interpret it your own way."
On what seems to exist in an entirely different universe, Jidanun also published a Yaoi novel last year. Contrary to the serious nature of Singto Nok Kok that she's famous for, the Yaoi genre -- which revolves around a romantic relationship between male characters -- is often perceived as dreamy and dripping with sex. It is something Jidanun's been a fan of since high school.
Her novel is called Who Could Be Hotter Than My Mom's Ex?. A raunchy title, though she said it was partly a marketing decision. The story actually revolves around a relationship between two generations of men and how they have different memories of a recently shared history. The storyline also features accounts of the communist uprising of the 1960s.
Jidanun acknowledges that this is not something people would expect from the genre.
"People don't really take Yaoi seriously, and I guess it's not strange for them to think that way. There's still a stigma surrounding the topic of gender in our society. But there are great stories out there. Perhaps they need better promotion so that the public may get a better idea of the genre -- that it's not all about stereotypes."
Despite her SEA Write win, Jidanun said she doesn't intend to give up on her lesser-known Yaoi novel.
"Some people did ask if I would give up on Yaoi now that I won SEA Write, and I was like, 'Hey, maybe I'll do the opposite'. With Yaoi, I feel it's easier, and also more comfortable and warm to write. Something like Singto Nok Kok can be more stressful during the writing."
At this point, Jidanun is planning to pursue both strands of literature simultaneously. And she now has the time to do so as a full-time writer. Even before the SEA Write fame, she quit her job as a human resources officer to focus on writing.
"I was handling payroll for the staff, so I didn't really see much aside from the Excel sheets," she joked, adding that she did have fun in that position. She lasted in the job six months before bidding it farewell and beginning her career in literature full-time.
"When I left that job, I didn't exactly plan on writing to be a full-time thing. I was still thinking that, if this doesn't work out, then I would just look for a new job. At the same time, there was a slight pressure in that. Since I wasn't working at anything else, I needed to earn income from it. You may say you do it for quality, for the message you want to tell, but sometimes it's also for money."
She said it's the charm of writing that keeps calling out to her.
"Writing is really different from other kinds of work. It brings something that exist within you out into the light. And you slowly learn about yourself, then you may write to express your own emotions. It heals the soul, so to speak."
Weeks after the award announcement, Jidanun said it still feels strange being called a SEA Write winner. Even so, she doesn't think this big win at a young age will put pressure on her or change anything about her future works.
"In starting each new project, I always want it to be better than the previous ones. So, the next step is going to be a slightly different process, and it may even have better attributes than Singto Nok Kok. That is always the plan, whether a book wins any awards or not."
Despite her achievement, Jidanun tends to brush off praise. She doesn't think she should be anybody's idol.
"If I'm your idol, then perhaps you haven't read enough literature," she said. "You can like me now -- I'll be your gate and you can walk in further. Go ahead and read more. Read works by others and you may find better ones that could be even more suitable for your taste."
