Five minutes with Emma Pei Yin
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1941, Hong Kong. Three women embark on a journey of sacrifice, resilience, and survival. This is the premise for Canberra author Emma Pei Yin’s debut historical fiction novel.
Launching her debut novel When Sleeping Women Wake on Wednesday 25 June at the Australian National University with an In Conversation event alongside Canberra author Ayesha Inoon, we sat down with Emma to find out more about the hidden history of Hong Kong and to talk about the untold histories of women’s war experience.
Your novel explores the lives of three women during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. What inspired you to tell this particular story set in this specific historical moment?
It was definitely a slow-burning inspiration that grew over many years. My grandfather used to tell me stories about the Japanese occupation when we visited Hong Kong. His pride in our Hakka heritage and the quiet strength of the community during that time stayed with me. I wanted to honour those stories, especially the ones that didn’t make it into history books, all the while, ensuring women’s experiences and voices were at forefront.
The title When Sleeping Women Wake is quite powerful. Could you share the significance behind it and how it connects to the themes in your book?
The title is a nod to the proverb: When Sleeping Women Wake, Mountains Move. It speaks to awakening, not just politically, but emotionally and spiritually. Each of the women in the novel endures extreme circumstances and – in their own way – finds a form of resistance. The book is about survival but also about solidarity, resilience and reclaiming agency.
As an Australian-Hong Kong Chinese writer, how has your personal cultural background influenced this story? Are there elements of your family history woven into the novel?
Of course! My cultural background is a big part of why I wrote this book. I was born in the UK, spent much of my childhood in Hong Kong and now live in Australia. I’ve always had this layered sense of identity. That mix of places and influences shaped how I see the world and made me more aware of which stories get told and which ones don’t. As for elements of my own family history? I would say the biggest aspects are how I’ve incorporated the personalities and traits of women in my own life into the women in the novel.
The book draws on historical events during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. Could you tell us about your research process and any surprising discoveries that you made?
The research process was both harrowing and transformative, and honestly, it changed the way I think about history and storytelling. I spent a lot of time reading firsthand accounts, military records and books like The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang and Battle for Hong Kong by Philip Cracknell. Those were especially tough to get through because the events were so brutal and it wasn’t just distant history for me. These things happened in places my family lived. That kind of proximity makes the violence feel more personal.
I also spent a lot of time digging into the geography of wartime Hong Kong. Places like Stanley Internment Camp and the Sai Kung area were particularly significant. Stanley is now a beachy suburb, but during the occupation, it was a brutal internment site for civilians. It’s surreal to think about how much those spaces have changed. Even Central and Wan Chai – which is now so modern – had streets that saw curfews, bombings and arrests during the war. I tried to imagine what those places looked like then, not just visually, but what it must’ve felt like to walk them under occupation.
Lastly, a surprising and moving part of the entire process was reconnecting with my grandmother after not having spoken in over a decade. I don’t think that would’ve happened if I didn’t write the book and spent so much time thinking about family again.
You’ve created three distinct female protagonists from different social positions: Mingzhu, her daughter Qiang, and their maid Biyu. How did you approach developing these characters and their unique perspectives?
I wanted to show how women from very different backgrounds experienced the same war in completely different ways. Mingzhu begins with privilege and security, but the war forces her into morally complicated choices and challenges her worldview. Qiang, as a young woman, is going through both a personal and political awakening – she starts to see the world, and her family, with fresh eyes. And Biyu, their maid, represents the kind of quiet strength that often goes unnoticed in history. She’s resilient, grounded, and sees things others miss.
Each of them reflects a different way women resist and survive under pressure. I was careful to develop them as individuals shaped by their pasts, not just by the war, and to explore how their relationships with each other shift as circumstances change. In developing all three, I kept asking myself: how does each woman make sense of her world, and how do they change when everything they know starts to fall apart? Their differences helped me explore a fuller picture of what survival and resistance looked like for women during this time.
As a writer based in Canberra, how has the local literary community and landscape influenced your writing process? Has being part of Canberra’s creative scene shaped your development as an author or the story itself?
Canberra is a great place for writing. It’s quiet and a bit more removed from the chaos of bigger cities, and I think that’s helped me focus. I don’t get too distracted here, which is great for long writing sessions.
The local literary community has also been supportive too and I’ve made some wonderful friends along the way. Ayesha Inoon and Barbie Robinson have both been such supporters of the novel, and me. It’s incredibly empowering to share your creative journey and successes with other women who are equally enthusiastic.
And even though I’m far from Hong Kong, that distance actually helps me process my feelings about it and reflect on what it means to me. So, in a way, being here has helped me write about there.
What do you hope readers, especially those unfamiliar with this chapter of history, will take away from When Sleeping Women Wake?
I hope readers feel the emotional truth to the story and acknowledge that resilience isn’t always loud…that even in silence, there’s resistance. I want people to walk away with a deeper empathy for women’s stories and a curiosity about the histories we weren’t taught. Ultimately, I hope the book feels like a tribute to those who endured, resisted and loved despite everything – on both sides of the war.
Can you tell us about what you’re working on next?
I’m currently researching another historical novel set in WWII, focusing on a lesser-known story of displacement and separation due to political decisions. It’s still early days, but I’m excited to bring it to life because the characters have already started speaking to me.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Yes! Another Canberran author, Ayesha Inoon, is currently working on her next book and I just know readers are going to love it so watch this space!
