My real name is Susan Abraham. I was born and raised in Malaysia but now travel avidly and am currently in Dublin, the Republic of Ireland.
In earlier years, I worked as a copywriter with AP: Foote, Cone & Belding, an international advertising agency in Kuala Lumpur. Later, I found my niche in full-time fashion magazine journalism as a feature writer with Female Magazine, Malaysia & Singapore, one of the region’s top fashion media, owned by Jack Chia Associates Singapore.
On my favourite editors, Suleen Low and James Siow, leaving the magazine, I eventually succumbed to a change of direction myself. After some thoughtful contemplation, I gave up a 9 to 5 job to travel and to earn a living from freelance journalism. In spite of difficult sacrifices at the beginning which I supposed to be a natural hazard, my yearning for self-containment, freedom and total independence won the day and such a daring, extraordinary hedonism, has now paid off wonderfully. I consider myself a free spirit and for the last 11 years have travelled impulsively to international outback regions, for long periods at a time…
In younger years, I had embarked passionately on my first love of creative writing. As a result, I had some contemporary poetry published in the small presses in England and Wales eg. Issue One & Stride Magazine and also poetry published in Femina Magazine India, by its former editor, Vimla Patel. I also wrote dozens of articles for newspapers and magazines in Malaysia and Singapore but my more exciting moments were to be had in the production and airing of adult and childrens’ radio plays in English, over Radio Malaysia.
I owe a lifelong gratitude to the now-retired producer, Paul de Souza.
In my last 10 years of travel, I had begun to write poetry and engage once more, with lyrical prose. Last Christmas, my first paperback on lyrical writing, Call the Ships of Dar-es-Salaam was published by YouWritePublishing, in England. Presently, a quick google search on the title with my name, will reveal international listings. Call the Ships of Dar-es-Salaam is also stocked at Books Upstairs, an independent bookshop, opposite Trinity College on College Green in Dublin city.
A few of the greater gifts I have received about being older and having travelled often and erratically, are the wisdom & focus of envisionary ideas that accompanies a striking confidence.
I have just returned to a broader scope of creative writing after an absence. I am still fiddling with a few manuscripts from the eclectic material I hold at the moment and am not sure in all honesty, what my next book will be yet. Do watch this space.
E-Mail Contact: suzanabrams@live.co.uk
Updated: January 2, 2012
Credit: Display picture is taken from My Dear Desk.