Singaporeans are apparently intrigued by the kind of alternative lifestyles depicted by Chinese writer Mian Mian, 37, and Japanese novelist Hitomi Kanehara, 25.

When the two so-called bad girls of Asian literature came to Singapore last Saturday to discuss their books about sex, drugs and extreme body modification at The Arts House, more than 30 people in their late 20s to 40s attended the event.

Among them was Chinese teacher Guo Yiqing, 35.

She says: 'The two writers are very interesting because they use their books as outlets to express themselves and through them, I get to know more about their cultures.'

At 21, Kanehara, a high-school dropout and the daughter of a literature professor, wrote her first book, Snakes And Earrings, which stemmed from her fascination with tattoos and body piercings.

She says: 'I wrote about what I was interested in. When I was writing Snakes And Earrings, I was into body modifications but I didn't dare to do it, so I created a character to go through what I wanted to do.'

In 2003, Snakes And Earrings won the Akutagawa Prize, a prestigious literary award in Japan.

Indeed, despite the brutally graphic nature of her writing, Kanehara does not look anything like a body modification enthusiast. At the discussion, organised as part of the inaugural Asia On The Edge cross-disciplinary conference, she looks sweet in a red dress.

Through a translator, she says: 'I will continue to write on controversial stuff because I believe that literature should be about taboo topics.'

Similarly, the Shanghai-based Mian Mian believes that life on the fringe is more authentic.

In 2000, the Chinese novelist became famous worldwide after she wrote Candy, a story about China's underbelly of sex and drugs, an unsavoury scene she was a part of until writing saved her from its worst excesses.

Dressed smartly in a black jacket and red skirt, she says in a mixture of fluent English and Mandarin: 'I wrote about such topics because I used to hang out with many troubled kids and their lives were so much closer to the truth.'

Mian Mian has her parents to thank for giving her their support.

The full-time writer says: 'They didn't want me to go out and continue to do crazy things to destroy myself, so they encouraged me to be a writer because it makes me stay at home.'

Manager Michele Thompson, 27, who also attended the discussion, says she is impressed with such parental support.

'Mian's parents allowed her to find her life and explore it. This is very different from Singapore where parents are usually more conservative,' she says.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Dec 8, 2008.