In Rafida Noor's writing, the noise of the city and the silence of the village live side by side. Her first novel, A Journey Through Blue Clouds, reached readers last year.
"I do not wait for a special moment to write," she said. "On a bus, in the kitchen, overhearing someone speak — when a sentence arrives, I put it in the notes on my phone."
“A writer sits alone, but a book becomes complete only with a reader. Without readers, a story has no breath.”
For her, observation is the first requirement of good writing. The small habits of people, the feelings hidden between their words — these are the raw material of a story.
Asked about readers' responses, she smiles. "Someone told me the book made them think of their own village. What greater reward could a writer ask for?"
She hints at her next project: a small river town will be the setting of her coming novel. She is not ready to say how long it will take.
Her advice for new writers is simple: "No one has to read the first draft. Write it for yourself. Think of the reader when you edit."
The kinds of books Rafida Noor loves
- Character-driven novels
- Stories of village life
- Memoirs and diaries
- Poetry collections
- Travel writing
