The Moment of Origin: A Profile of Susan Choi

For novelist Susan Choi, history holds a fascination that can lead to fiction with a present-day relevance.
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For novelist Susan Choi, history holds a fascination that can lead to fiction with a present-day relevance.
In her third novel, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, which comes out nearly twenty years after her Booker Prize–winning The Inheritance of Loss, Kiran Desai considers loneliness in all its states of loss and heartache, possibility and promise, through the lens of a love story.
“But fear can be galvanizing; perhaps the novel would not have been written without it.” —Xenobe Purvis, author of The Hounding
The author of Restitution (Regal House Publishing, September 2025) recommends writers refine their research and examine which details actually serve their characters and plots.
“I just remember the miraculous appearance of story seeds, bursts of inspiration, and cloudless composition.” —Ed Park, author of An Oral History of Atlantis
The author of Restitution (Regal House Publishing, September 2025) recommends writers use their own memories as a testing ground for their characters.
“I think every writer carries with them someone they wish they could’ve told all their stories to.” —Katie Yee, author of Maggie; Or, A Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar
The author of Restitution (Regal House Publishing, September 2025) recommends writers use time as a tool to shape the emotional stakes of novels.
“The research I did for this novel was so intriguing, looking at the psychology and science of siblinghood, memory, identity.” —Fran Littlewood, author of The Accidental Favorite