Indonesian-born Singaporean writer Clarissa Goenawan has had an intriguing life.

Born in the East Java capital of Surabaya, the 31-year-old moved to Singapore for school at the age 16 and has been living there ever since.

She wrote her debut novel set in Japan, a compelling narrative, although she never lived in the country long enough to immerse herself in its culture.

The novel, Rainbirds (2016), was published by American publisher SoHo Press. The novel is set in a small fictional Japanese town called Akakawa, where a grieving man named Ren Ishida tries to come to terms with the sudden death of his sister, who was murdered.

In 2017, the author beat 805 other entries to win the £2,000 (US$3,580) Bath Novel Award, an international prize recognizing unpublished and independently published novelists.

Following its success, the novel, written in English, has since been translated into French, German, Polish, Spanish and Chinese. It was also recently translated into Indonesian and launched at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival last year.

Rainbirds itself offers an eclectic literary style in which the author seamlessly blends different literary influences and genres, crossing over psychological, romantic as well as erotic subgenres, resulting in a rich, satisfying and true-to-life reading experience.

Clarissa, who is represented by Pontas Agency, said she had wanted to be a writer since she was 8 years old. Her mother always made sure she and her siblings grew up around books.

Upon graduation, she got a job at a Singaporean bank where she had to work from morning until close to midnight every day.

At that time, she found herself too tired to read books after she came home from work so she stopped reading altogether for a few years.

Until one day, her colleague lent her Haruki Murakami’s 1987 novel Norwegian Wood and insisted she read it. She relented, and found herself blown away by the book, rediscovering just how amazing the literary world was, particularly Japanese literature.

She quit her job at the bank in 2012 over health concerns. With time on her side, she began reading more books by Japanese authors, such as Yasunari Kawabata.

In no time, she become obsessed with Japan — reading anything she could get her hands on about the country, from its geographical setting, climate and culture to history.

She then started writing short stories in 2013 about a woman who is murdered. “I started researching Japanese funeral rituals to sharpen the story. Then the short story wove itself into a novel,” Clarissa said.

She said she did not want to insert things usually associated with Japan — such as sakura petals falling in the fall — in her novel. Instead, she wanted to incorporate aspects of Japanese culture that were less known among foreigners.

“For instance, there is a scene when the main character goes to a bar with his colleagues. You may notice that none of the characters pour their own drinks — it’s considered rude in Japan — therefore, a junior female staff member is tasked to serve the drink, which is the norm over there,” she told the The Jakarta Post.

It took her a year to finish the book, then she had to endure yet another two years of receiving hundreds of rejection letters from various publishers before eventually landing a deal with SoHo Press.

She currently mentors young writers, helping them find publishers through a platform called #PitchWars.

Her short stories have also won several awards and been published in various literary magazines and anthologies, such as The MacGuffin, Your Impossible Voice, Esquire, Monsoon Book, Writing The City and Needle in the Hay.

Clarissa — who says she loves rainy days, pretty books and hot green tea — is now a full time writer.

She will be among writers featured at the annual Makassar International Writers Festival (MIWF), which runs from June 26 to 29 in the South Sulawesi capital city.

She will share the stage with fellow writers Intan Paramaditha and Nuril Basri in a discussion titled “Far from Home: Stories of Indonesian Expatriate Writers” on June 27. She will also join a panel discussion themed “Being Asian: Race, Gender and Culture” on June 29.

The festival, which will mark its ninth edition this year, will bring together 68 writers and speakers for a total of 68 discussions spread across Fort Rotterdam and five universities in Makassar.

Clarissa is currently working on her next novel, while enjoying family life with her photographer husband and three children in Singapore.

She shared her experience of culture shock upon moving to Singapore in the 1990s.

“When I lived in Surabaya with my parents, I remember they always had visitors. Friends and relatives came by almost every night. In Singapore, however, we don’t really visit one another that often, unless on a special occasion,” she said.

Across the cultural divide, she finds the two are closely bound together: by commonly shared Asian culture, with a strong emphasis on family.

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