Thai writer on her debut novel inspired by dad’s work in Hong Kong’s Kowloon Walled City

Inspiration for Thai-Chinese author Pim Wangtechawat’s debut novel came from a source close to her heart. Her father.

“My dad Sukit was born in Thailand, but was sent to Hong Kong to study when he was about seven and returned there in his twenties,” says Pim, via video call from her home in Bangkok.

She loved hearing stories of his school days in Hong Kong, but it was the tales of his time in Kowloon Walled City, the enclave known as the City of Darkness because of its reputation as a hub for drugs, gambling and brothels, that grabbed her attention.