Shze-Hui Tjoa

Sep 17, 2024 | full-stop.net | Shze-Hui Tjoa

I first came to know of the Moroccan novelist Mhani Alaoui via Dreams of Maryam Tair, her genre-bending debut novel set during the 1981 Casablanca bread riots. Charmed by the unique way that Alaoui blended political resistance, historical inquiry, and the magic of fairy tales in her work, I reached out over email—and we soon developed a cross-country friendship based on these shared writerly interests.

Jun 12, 2024 | electricliterature.com | Jeannie Vanasco |Jennifer Croft |Susanna Clarke |Shze-Hui Tjoa

Reading Lists Shze-Hui Tjoa recommends memoirs and novels written as letters, therapy sessions, diary entires, interviews, and Slack messages I love it when a text centers the dynamics of conversation. In my own life, talking to others gets me out of my head, and introduces me to possibilities I would never have dreamed of alone. I think of a quote by the activist Valerie Kaur, which my local bookshop has printed on some of its merchandise: “You are a part of me I do not yet know.” That’s...

May 21, 2024 | largeheartedboy.com | Shze-Hui Tjoa

In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book. Previous contributors include Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Amy Bloom, Aimee Bender, Roxane Gay, and many others. Shze-Hui Tjoa’sThe Story Game is an innovative memoir-in-essays that explores both memory and the self startlingly. Kirkus wrote of the book:“An intimate exploration of a woman’s identity. . . .

May 17, 2024 | therumpus.net | Shze-Hui Tjoa

Sometimes, the phrase “formally inventive” ends up being used as a polite synonym for “highbrow, but boring” (or “man, I couldn’t really follow the narrative of this book at all”). But there’s no reason why this should be, right? Genre-bending books can be fun. Many are both inventive and propulsive page-turners—using form to convey truths about the human psyche that can’t be expressed in the usual ways.

Apr 25, 2024 | themillions.com | Shze-Hui Tjoa |David Martinez |David Martínez

What is the point of memoir? And why might an author choose to process their life experiences through that particular form instead of, say, fiction or poetry? In this conversation, debut memoirists Shze-Hui Tjoa and David Martinez reflect on what the form means to them and their respective books, The Story Game, an interrogation of memory, childhood, and PTSD; and Bones Worth Breaking, a portrait of the bond between brothers and the global forces that shaped them.