Moniza Hossain is a Singaporean author of Bengali descent who writes children’s books inspired by her  heritage. Her debut picture book Street Puppy Masjid Cat is the winner of the Hedwig Anuar Children’s Book Award, 2026. She is also the author of the critically-acclaimed picture book Ritu in the Sun, and the middle grade novel Bad Things Happened Here, which is a Junior Library Guild gold standard selection. Her short stories can be found in the anthologies Being Ace and The Beasts Beneath the Winds.

I had the opportunity to interview Moniza, which you can read below.

First of all, welcome to Geeks OUT! Could you tell us a little about yourself?

Thank you for having me! My family is originally from Bangladesh but I grew up in Singapore. I now live in a haunted house in Manchester with my husband. Yes, my house is actually haunted. The ghost is fairly harmless but sometimes it acts up. It loves playing with the light switches. When I’m not busy trying to ignore the ghost, I like reading, writing, and painting. 

What can you tell us about some of your latest books, Ritu in the Sun and Bad Things Happened Here? What was the inspiration for these stories? 

I was inspired to write Ritu in the Sun by a troubling conversation with a young girl at a party. She had come back from holiday with a tan and she told me the sun had “ruined” her skin. The word “ruin” struck me at the time, because it was such a precocious word for a kid to use. I could tell she’d picked it up from an adult, and in the process had also learned to hate the melanin in her skin. It reminded me of my own childhood, when I’d been taught similar lessons in self-hate. That night, the first draft of Ritu in the Sun poured out of me. It’s a book that gently broaches the topic of colorism in a child-friendly way while celebrating skin tones in all of their varied hues. I’m so grateful I got to publish the book. Colorism is still such a big problem in so many communities. The book is necessary, and it’s also very healing. 

It’s harder for me to pin down the exact inspiration for Bad Things Happened Here. Growing up in Southeast Asia, I’ve always been surrounded by ghost stories. Ghosts are a part of the cultural fabric of the region. We celebrate the Hungry Ghost Festival every year and it’s the norm for people to leave offerings under trees and along the roadside. I grew up instinctively stepping around the charred remains of Hell Money (burnt for ancestors to spend in the afterlife). It was probably inevitable that at some point I’d write a ghost story. There’s so much rich lore in the region that hasn’t been explored in western media. I’m very grateful I get to add to the existing corpus of Southeast Asian horror with my debut novel Bad Things Happened Here. I hope there are many more ghost stories set in the region. We know our ghosts! 

As a creative, what drew you to the art of storytelling, especially stories for young readers

Terry Pratchett once said that when “you read enough books… you overflow and then you start writing”, and I feel much the same way about my own journey as a writer. I started out as a reader first, and the books that still mean the most to me, and that have played the biggest role in shaping me as a person and a writer, are the ones I read in my formative years. Kidlit is powerful and important. 

What are some of your favorite elements of writing? What do you consider some of the most frustrating and/or difficult? 

The most frustrating part of writing is whatever you happen to be doing at the moment, and similarly, the most rewarding element is also the exact same thing. Writing is always hard, but there’s pleasure in doing a difficult thing, and doing it well. If I had to choose specific elements though, I’d say coming up with the story outline is my favourite part of the process. I like seeing a story coalesce before me as I work through the plot. Drafting, in contrast, takes much longer, and it’s harder to see the story take shape while slowly working through each scene. 

As a creative, who or what would you say are some of your greatest creative influences and/or sources of inspiration in general?

As a picture book author I’ve been greatly inspired by writers like Joanna Ho, Andrea Wang, and Reem Faruqi. I adore the lyricism of their prose, but even more than that, I really admire the way they’re able to tell culturally specific stories in such a universally relatable way. 

As a horror writer my greatest inspiration is probably Stephen King, whom I read when I was much too young. My fascination with the genre began in a dusty corner of the school library where I slowly worked my way through most of his catalogue. I’ve read a lot of other scary books since then, but those first few really left their mark. 

Aside from your work, what are some things you would want readers to know about you?

I am a huge zombie movie fan. I don’t like the ones that are silly or funny. I prefer my zombies deathly serious, where they’re treated like an apocalyptic event and everyone is terrified. My favourite zombie movie is 28 Days Later, because it explores how completely ordinary people would react to the world suddenly ending. I was very pleased about the fact that I was able to include some zombies in Bad Things Happened Here. 

What’s a question you haven’t been asked yet but that you wish you were asked (as well as the answer to that question)?

I would love for more people to ask me to recommend them a Jane Austen novel. No one ever does because the books I write have nothing to do with Austen, but I studied 18th and 19th century women novelists as an undergrad, and I’m a huge fan. My favourite novel is Persuasion, which is a second chance romance with one of the swooniest love confessions. It puts Darcy’s “In vain I have struggled. It will not do” speech to shame. The book also features the oldest (and most competent!) Austen heroine. 

What advice might you have to give for aspiring storytellersout there?

It’s really important to find a community of writers. It forces you to take your craft more seriously and to write more consistently. Giving critique is also a great way to grow as a writer. You learn from other people’s mistakes. 

Are there any other projects you are working on and at liberty to speak about?

I’m working on a middle grade horror novel set in a haunted school. I also just finished a picture book manuscript that I’m very excited about. It’s a folktale featuring a hilarious villain that I think kids will love.

Finally, what books/authors would you recommend to the readers of GeeksOUT? 

One of my favourite middle grade horrors is The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkaf, which is set in Malaysia and features a “pelesit”, a dark spirit from Malay folklore. I also really like Ellen Oh’s Spirit Hunters series because the books are genuinely very scary. My favourite picture book of all time is Watercress by Andrea Wang. It’s a beautiful story about the bittersweet complexity of growing up as a child of immigrants.