Clara Ng (last name pronounced [ŋ̍]; née Regina Juana; born 28 July 1973) is an Indonesian writer who is known for both adult fiction and children's literature.
Since then, she has released several novels, as well as numerous short stories (including one anthology) and twenty-one children's books, and some collections of fairytales.
Her topics are different depending on the genre she is writing in; her adult-oriented works often deal with minority groups, while her children's books are meant to teach empathy.
Ng was born in Jakarta on 28 July 1973 with the name Clara Regina Juana and was raised in the Kemayoran sub-district.
While in high school, she became interested in social issues, including discrimination faced by ethnic Chinese, LGBT, and women.
[1] Upon her return to Indonesia, she spent three years working in the human resources department of Hanjin Shipping but left after she had two miscarriages, the first when she was seven months pregnant and the second at seven weeks.
[1] Ng made her debut as a novelist with Tujuh Musim Setahun (Seven Seasons A Year) in 2002,[5] which sold poorly.
[7] Ng's short story "Barbie" was adapted as a film by actor-cum-presenter Raffi Ahmad in 2010, with Yuni Shara in the titular role.
[9] In 2010, Ng, Agus Noor, and Eka Kurniawan established the Fiksimini community on Facebook as a way to critique each other's work, later branching out to Twitter.
As of 2011[update] the community, with approximately 70,000 followers, allows writers, both professional and aspiring, to tweet an idea within the 140-character technical limitations of the software which could make the reader think.
[5][12][13] A. Junaidi, writing for The Jakarta Post, notes that Gerhana Kembar was well received by Indonesia's LGBT community as it did not link homosexuality to negative issues like drug use.
However, some educators disagree with the lack of an explicit moral message; Ng argues that her books have multiple interpretations: those by children and those by adults.