Thankfully, my name is much easier to pronounce than it looks! Tzeyi is “zee,” like the letter, and Koay is “kway.” Or, for Malaysians, “kueh,” like the dessert. I also answer to “Z,” “Tze,” and my Chinese name, 诗钰 or shīyù.

Do you want the happy answer or the sad answer? The happy answer is that I learned English by watching a lot of American TV. The sad and probably more realistic answer is that I was bullied for my accent as a kid, so I taught myself how to speak with a more Western accent in the hope I might be accepted. Now I can’t seem to get rid of it!

Although if you want to hear my Australian accent peek through, just ask me to say “lawyer,” “wardrobe,” or “water.”

Well, is anyone really anything? But yes! Before I ever dreamed of becoming an author, I wanted to be a singer and voice actor. My mother enrolled me in professional singing lessons as soon as I could walk, and I’m trained in vocal performance. So narrating audiobooks feels like a very full-circle way to combine my love of music and storytelling. If you're interested in having me narrate your audiobook, please reach out to my agent, Naomi Davis, at [email protected]

First and foremost, woah, you want a blurb from little old me? If you’re serious, please reach out to [email protected]. If you’re my mum or one of my friends, you can just reach out to me directly. You know how!
Please keep in mind that I do my best to prioritise blurb requests from debut authors and authors from marginalised backgrounds, including authors of colour, LGBTQIA+ authors, and disabled authors.

A Curse Carved in Ink will be published by Simon & Schuster in early 2027. It releases on January 26, 2027 in the US and Canada, and February 2, 2027 in Australia and the UK.

You should be able to find A Curse Carved in Ink anywhere good books are sold! Please check the pre-order links on my website, visit your local Simon & Schuster page, or reach out to your local library or bookstore. Please don’t hesitate to put in a request, as it really helps.

The book will be available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook.

As of now, translation rights have been publicly sold in seven countries, including: Poland, Brazil, Turkey, Germany, Hungary, Italy, and Spain. Keep an eye on this website and follow me on Instagram for more updates!

So far, all my books are standalones! But who knows? With enough support, maybe one day I’ll write a spin-off, sequel, or prequel.

Street team recruitment will likely open in September, so keep an eye on my Instagram for updates and applications!

Absolutely not! While I grew up in Asia in a household that practised Chinese traditional folk religion, I am also someone who loves to make things up. Hence, becoming a fantasy writer. For example, the original magistrates or Ten Kings of Hell were all men. In A Curse Carved in Ink, I wanted to create a gender-diverse and queernormative world full of nuance, one that reflects our changing world and values. I aim to respect the belief systems, stories, and traditions that raised me, but I also want to create worlds where people feel seen, rather than simply recreating the incredibly detailed stories that have already been told through the verbal and written traditions of my ancestors.

Yes, but not in the way you might think. Jiangshi or 僵尸 are often translated as “Chinese hopping vampires,” though many scholars and translators prefer “zombie.” They are reanimated corpses that drain life force or qi, rather than blood, which means the translation is always a little imperfect. But the words “vampire” and “zombie” also come from other languages, cultures, and folkloric traditions. I think this is part of what makes language beautiful, especially when you’re multilingual. Sometimes there is no perfect one-to-one translation, only different ways of getting as close as possible to understanding one another.