I came from a family of extremely old money, and so by the time I was born, there was really just a trickle of money left.
— Kevin Kwan
I'm naturally a shy, quiet person.
I love romantic comedies more than anything.
I was born on the island of Singapore, and I grew up there until I was 11 years old, when I was forcibly removed by my dad and planted into suburban Houston. I was in shock for the first year and then began to really love it - but didn't love it quite enough to stay.
'Crazy Rich Asians' may be fiction, but given the situation I grew up in, I've had an unparalleled view into the very real world it depicts.
I'm a writer. I'm naturally introverted, so being the public face of something, I don't think I do it well.
Couture occupies the uppermost stratosphere of fashion. It is the holy of holies, as only about 2,000 women globally are fortunate enough to wear these precious garments tailored to their exact measurements, making it perhaps the most exclusive club in the world.
They say truth is sometimes stranger than fiction, but there's such a thing as believability when you're writing a novel.
I come from an old establishment family from Singapore.
In Singapore, there may be 50 old-money families, but you wouldn't know them to look at them.
I know an elderly society matron in Singapore who would rather walk in the scorching sun for blocks on end rather than have her chauffeur drive into the Central Business District at peak hour and pay the $1.50 surcharge.
My father came from old money. There was less of an expectation for the children to earn a living.
It would have been amazing to have been a student at Oxford during that golden moment in the 1910s, rubbing elbows with the likes of Aldous Huxley and T.E. Lawrence, before World War I shattered everything forever.
I think, at least for me, I'm so impressed by Shanghai and how all of China continues to evolve. On a style level, you're seeing this increased sophistication and brand awareness.
One of the dreams on my wish list is to spend more time in Thailand.
There are old-money Asians that would never be caught dead with a Chanel handbag or sporting anything that has a label it.
I grew up at a time in Singapore - the '70s and '80s - where it was still possible to go riding around the island barefoot. And I was one of these kids that was just climbing trees and running around the neighbourhood.
I grew up in a household where there were really, really strong matriarchal characters. I think that's true of many Asian households. People tend to think of Asia as a misogynistic society or a society where men rule. At least in my experience, the women rule the household; the women rule the social scene. The men often become very useless.
I love Netflix and Amazon and watching movies on streamers as much as the next person.
My golden dream was to move to New York and live in the Village and become that cool rebel beatnik Jack Kerouac.
I grew up with a posh English accent, and all my aunts sounded as if they came out of a Merchant Ivory movie.
Hollywood is a whole other level of crazy. I've never met so many assistants who have assistants. It's a stratified society on its own.
People are often disappointed when they meet me because I'm not this giant, flamboyant - you know, I don't wear sequined jackets.
When my first novel, 'Crazy Rich Asians,' was published in 2013, many readers were astonished to learn that in Asia, there were women who dressed in couture from morning till night.
When cultural movements happen, it's so beyond your control.
At least when it comes to food, there's no snobbery in Singapore.
The most important thing to keep in mind is the incredible diversity of talent that's out there - there are so many great actors from all over Asia, from Singapore and Hong Kong to the Philippines and Mainland China, not to mention many great Asian-American actors who are eager for fun and challenging roles.
As a child, I could bike down the hill from my house and grab an ice-cold bottle of soda from the neighborhood grocer, which was nothing more than a corrugated metal shack run by two Indian men clad in sarongs.
It's human nature when you first make your big fortune to want to show off a bit. I don't begrudge that whatsoever.
I've always been drawn to the Edwardian period in England. To me, it seems like such a fascinating time, when the British Empire was at the height of its powers and the strict mores of the Victorian age were dissipating into the decadence of King Edward's reign.
Living in the West, you see how there's only two versions of how Asian men are supposed to be. Either they're very nice, yuppie husbands with children in ads, or they're IT geeks.
I think snobbery is one of the oldest customs in the world, and the rich will always find ways to rank each other and make themselves feel more special than others.
My mother likes to say that I was conceived to shop - not just born to shop. My whole life as a child was following her and her sister and friends around on her shopping trips.
Certainly, living in the U.S., as I have for over two decades, you see how Asians are portrayed in the media... I didn't see myself represented, you know, when I used to look at ads on TV.
I really don't keep an outline; I don't organize in any way. I just write.
Warner Bros. is just this amazing historic studio that does great movies.
I moved to New York and went to art school at Parsons School of Design. Became a photographer. Became a creative consultant.
As a child, I didn't even realize I was Chinese. I was Singaporean, but my identity was wrapped up in the culture I was experiencing every day.
I have a photographic memory.
I have pictures of my grandmother from the 1920s and '30s in avant-garde dresses that looked like they could have come from the House of Worth or Lucien Lelong. She would never say if they were couture, but I do recall her telling me, 'All my clothes and shoes came from Paris.'
Every family is a crazy family.
I remember I had an aunt that lived in a house that had this beautiful ceramic wall that was entirely a painting of a peacock.
Such huge money has been made in China - it can be hundreds of millions in a year - and there's a need to validate it by showing what they can buy and how much of it.
I go to Shenzhen, China, and am taken to a vast luxury spa with a hundred leather recliners and a hundred accompanying plasma screen televisions bolted to the ceiling.
I spent the first 12 years of my life growing up in Singapore. Back then, in the early '80s, it was still a tropical island at the tip of the Malay Peninsula striving to shine on the world stage.
I wanted to explore what all this new-found wealth means for the different generations of Chinese who have to live together in this place that is transforming at warp speed into the richest country on the planet.
Growing up in Singapore, I wasn't allowed to visit China. So when I was finally able to go there after the country began opening up to tourism in the 1990s, I found it to be utterly astounding.
Asian literature is evolving with the people. It's always a reflection on what's happening to the culture at large.
In order for me to write a scene, it's very important for me to see and experience everything with my own eyes, so yes, I was able to visit some remarkable houses and destinations while I was in China.
It's not normal to go into a house and see a pond in the middle of the living room full of baby sharks. It's not normal to go to someone's garage and see a private plane.
