Welcome to the Book Marks Questionnaire, where we ask authors questions about the books that have shaped them.

This week, we spoke to Ponti author Sharlene Teo.

Book Marks: First book you remember loving?  

Sharlene Teo: The Hundredth Dove and Other Tales by Jane Yolen—it had these beautiful charcoal drawings and the stories within were haunting and melancholic in a way I’d never encountered before. That’s the wonderful thing about a childhood book- I remember studying the illustrations for hours, fully absorbed in the emotional realities within its pages.

BM: Favorite re-read?

ST: Love in the Time of Cholera, Light Years, Lolita, Madame Bovary. 

BM: What book do you think your book is most in conversation with?  

ST: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jacksongets mentioned in Ponti—because Shirley Jackson is such an influence and inspiration to me and both books centre female teenage misanthropy.

BM: A book that blew your mind? 

ST: Beloved by Toni Morrison—before I read it, I didn’t know a novel could be so horrific and humane, fantastical yet grounded in deep and present pain.

Click here to read more on the Book Marks website.