Has anyone else come up with the problem of so called ‘cultural appropriation? When I finished Brushstrokes in Time and approached agents, those that read it praised it saying it was publishable but their concern was that I was ‘not Chinese!’

I found a brave new publishing company Claret Press who took me on. Brushstrokes in Time was published a year ago. When it gets to Chinese readers they love it and react positively and emotionally to it. A high proportion of the 95 reviews in newspapers, magazines and on online and blogging sites praise Brushstrokes in Time’s authenticity .

If you are only allowed to write from your own personal experience then what is the point of imagination? In those circumstances how can a man write about a woman and a woman write about a man or Hilary Mantel write about Thomas Cromwell. After all the past is another country