The Riff Raff Podcast #29 - Sharlene Teo

"So I started writing this book about a female cannibal monster..." said Sharlene Teo as we started recording Episode 29 of The Riff Raff Podcast, and we were sold.

Her debut novel, Ponti, is set in Singapore and follows three female narrators: Amisa, Szu and Circe. Sharlene told us how she went about making each voice distinct, the lengths she went to to create backstory for each one and how she developed relationships between the three that felt real and fleshed-out.

We also made Sharlene recount the story of how she got published – it's the stuff dreams are made of, yet so relatable. And we couldn't let her go before finding out about her writing routines – tune it to hear Sharlene's frank and refreshing take on 'the rules'.