Sue Cheung | |
|---|---|
| Born | Cheung Ying Yee |
| Other names | Sue Pickford |
| Occupation | novelist |
| Years active | 2013-present |
| Notable work | Chinglish |
Sue Cheung (born Cheung Ying Yee), formerly known as Sue Pickford, is a novelist. She is best known for her first novel Chinglish. [1]
Cheung was born in Nottingham, England, to parents who had emigrated from Hong Kong in the 1960s. [2] They ran a Chinese restaurant in Nottingham, and when she was nine started running a butchers shop in Hull. They then moved to Coventry, where the family lived in a Chinese takeaway for most of her teen years. [3] Despite her parents coming from Hong Kong, she has never been there, in part due to her parents’ working schedule. [4]
At the age of 16, she won a scholarship at the London College of Fashion to study to become an artist. She subsequently worked in advertising as an Art Director before switching to freelance design. [5]
Her first novel for teenagers, Chinglish, is based on her experiences growing up in the takeaway in Coventry. [6] It won several prizes, including the 2019 Guardian’s Best Books list, the ‘Simply the Book’ category at the Coventry Inspiration Book Awards, and the Young Adult category the Diverse Book Awards. [3]