David T. K. Wong.

David T K Wong has a refreshing take on the business side of writing. He is the benefactor behind the prestigious creative writing fellowship that bears his name at the University of East Anglia and the eponymous short story prize awarded by PEN.

I met him at a drinks part the other evening and he told me he had always wanted to write ever since he was a child. But he had had to focus on work and earning a living. He started out as a dishwasher in his native Hong Kong and later, was a ditchdigger. Eventually, he became a journalist and then entered the civil service before starting out in business for himself. His children are now grown and he realised that he had to do something for himself. In his middle age, he felt he had little time left to pursue his one lifetime passion - writing. He retired from his business life and moved to London - "because I don’t know anyone here. In Hong Kong, every day, someone calls me to go out, have dinner, do something. Here I can be alone to write."

During his working life, he would always be writing - short stories that have been published in Hong Kong, UK and US. After
he retired, he wrote his first novel The Evergreen Teahouse, published by Muse. Now, he writes every day and has little time for anything else.

He values the time he spent working. "It gave me experience of life so now I’ve got something to write about. It’s good to be working, being part of life."

On the business side of writing, he says he doesn’t have an agent. In that blunt way that Hong Kong folk can have, he says,
"Look, I’ve worked all my life. I don’t expect anyone to work for no money. I know my books won’t make money so if someone is working on a commission basis, they won’t earn anything. I write what I want to write because I want to write
it. I don’t care what critics or literary professors say about my work. I don’t need to sell my books. I write them for e."

His endowment of the fellowship at East Anglia University gives other writers a year away from the market place to be creative, to write and to be in the company of literary colleagues. He encouraged me to apply. "It buys you the time to write without worrying about having to produce something commercial that will sell. I’ve worked all my life and I know what a
luxury time is. I don’t have much time left in my life so I want to write as much as I can."

I must report that David does not look anywhere near death’s door. He is full of energy and a slight smile seems to be ever
present. His driven early years in the world of commerce have clearly paid off. He is evidently invigorated by his passion for writing and managed his life in a way that gives him the freedom to write to his own muse. The key seems to be that he has taken money out of the equation for his own writing - and beyond that, having himself lived the struggle of juggling work and writing, is helping
others do the same through his literary endowments.