Since we were little, Miss Emily Chou and I have been friends. Throughout the years, we've watched each other grow; we are practically family. She is currently in her last year studying at UBC in Vancouver. Wanting to become a writer, she told me a few things about herself that I didn't even know!

Get to know Miss Emily Chou:

When did you realize that creative writing was something you were interested in?
I was always that nerdy kid making up stories, drawing pictures, and being a total BLAST at parties so I guess a creative path was always a certainty. It was really just a matter of what. I'll be honest, I never thought that writing was something I was good at (I almost failed grade 10 english!!) but a lot of teachers kept pushing me and telling me that I really did have some iota of talent hidden away, so I guess I owe it to them.

What inspires you to write?
I write for the beastly little girls and the monstrous women, the ones with soft voices and sharp teeth. I write for the lost things we keep inside us, the almost-kisses and the maybe-loves, the phone calls we never made and the kingdoms we built as children but don't fit inside anymore. I'm inspired by strangers on the bus, fairy tales, old films, anthropological texts, and butterfly boxes. But I'm also inspired by laughter. I want people to smile at silly things.

You can read her currently recognized work here on Lemon Hound. It's quite the poem!

We had a lot of fun shooting her lifestyle portraits!

Location: Vancouver