Instagram poet and social media phenomenon Lang Leav talks to about writing poetry and her debut novel

Ravindranathan Shreeja Sad Girls

eople who are prone to sadness are more likely to pick up a pen.’

There’s a haunting timbre to this line from Kiwi poet and author Lang Leav’s debut novel, Sad Girls .Iask her how much of it is self-referential as we sit across each other in a cosy corner at Borders at Mall of the Emirates, chatting over coffee, an hour before her book signing at the bookstore.

‘Yeah, absolutely,’ the soft-spoken author agrees without missing a beat, leaning in to narrate how her Cambodian parents fled the Khmer Rouge regime to a Thailand refugee camp before immigrating to Australia. ‘I was an 11-month-old baby when we settled in Australia, so I don’t remember much of my time at the refugee camp but growing up in [Cabramatta] a predominantly migrant town west of Sydney, which was a mishmash of cultures from war-torn countries, meant there was this melancholy that permeated the air, a certain heaviness you could feel. It had a profound impact on my work – I write a lot about melancholy and struggle because that’s what I grew up around.’

The smiling woman in front of me has been excitedly gabbing away about her panel discussion that took place the night before at the recent Sharjah International Book Fair (which is what has brought her from Down Under to the UAE), upcoming projects and the special friendship she struck up with Shaikha Budoor Bint Sultan Al Qasimi, President of the Emirates Publishers Association.

Lang looks anything but melancholic; except perhaps for her choice of all-black attire – a smart tie-neck blouse and trousers – but that could just be a clever fashion ploy by the erstwhile fashion designer, who before jumping headlong into her career as a writer, founded awardwinning fashion label Akina (it won the Qantas Spirit of Youth Award).

Yet, it is this lingering undercurrent of melancholy