Illustration: Mina Ikemoto Ghosh
21 September 2023 • 3 to 8pm • Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS, London WC1H 0XG
Zen
Cho
Zen Cho is the author of the Sorcerer to the Crown novels, the novella The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water and a short story collection, Spirits Abroad. Her newest novel is Black Water Sister, a contemporary fantasy set in Malaysia. Zen is a winner of the Hugo, Crawford and British Fantasy Awards and the LA Times Book Prize/Ray Bradbury Prize, as well as a finalist for the World Fantasy, Ignyte, Lambda, Locus and Astounding Awards. She was born and raised in Malaysia, resides in the UK, and lives in a notional space between the two. zencho.org
Yen
Ooi
Yen Ooi is a writer-researcher who explores East and Southeast Asian culture, identity and values. Her projects aim to cultivate cultural engagement in our modern, technology-driven lives. She is a PhD candidate at Royal Holloway, University of London looking at the development of Chinese science fiction by diaspora writers and writers from Chinese-speaking nations. Her research delves into the critical inheritance of culture that permeates across the genre. Yen is narrative director and writer on Road to Guangdong, a narrative-style driving game. She is also author of Rén: The Ancient Chinese Art of Finding Peace and Fulfilment (non-fiction), Sun: Queens of Earth (novel) and A Suspicious Collection of Short Stories and Poetry (collection). When she’s not writing, Yen lectures and mentors. yenooi.com
Winnie
M. Li
Winnie M Li is an author and activist, who has worked in the creative industries over three continents. Taiwanese-American and raised in New Jersey, Winnie studied Folklore and Mythology at Harvard, and later Irish Literature as a George Mitchell Scholar. Since then, she has written for travel guidebooks, produced independent feature films, programmed for film festivals, and developed eco-tourism projects. After earning an MA with Distinction in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths, she now writes across a range of media, including fiction, theatre, journalism, and memoir. Her debut novel, Dark Chapter, is a fictional retelling of her real-life stranger rape in Belfast, from both victim and perpetrator perspectives. It won The Guardian’s Not The Booker Prize in 2017, was nominated for the Edgar Award for Best First Novel, and shortlisted for The Author’s Club Best First Novel Award. It has been translated into ten languages and Winnie is currently adapting it for screen. Her second novel Complicit was sold in a six-figure pre-empt to Orion Fiction, and later, in a heated five-way auction to Emily Bestler at Atria Books for US rights. It came out in Summer 2022, was The New York Times ‘ monthly book club pick, and appeared on several Best of 2022 lists. Winnie She regularly runs workshops and speaks about creative writing, creativity and trauma, and media and gender. winniemli.com
Tania
Tay
Tania’s writing explores female friendship, mothers and daughters. She likes to add a supernatural twist. She is writing a young fiction series Spellcasters, with Storymix Studio and Hachette Children’s. Last year, Tania won the Modern Stories Future Bookshelf Headline Open Submissions Initiative and she’s debut-ing in 2024 with a domestic suspense novel for Headline Accent. She’s also a screenwriter and was part of BBC Writersroom London Voices 2021. Tania studied History of Art at the University of Edinburgh. She’s an award-winning advertising copywriter ( J. Walter Thompson, Publicis). She’s second generation, British Malaysian Chinese and lives in East London. Twitter @taniatay88 Instagram • @taniatay88 • Agent Hannah Schofield, LBA Books.
Sinéad
Gosai
Sinéad Gosai is a dynamic and creative PR Consultant with almost two decades of experience working in the media, not-for-profit and publishing industries. She has developed press strategies for international authors and bestsellers, created publicity campaigns for beloved children’s book creators, and managed busy press offices and teams across multiple organisations. Sinéad is passionate about getting a wider range of stories told and expanding people's reading lists. sineadgosaipr.com
Pim Wangtechawat
Pim Wangtechawat is a Thai-Chinese writer from Bangkok, Thailand. Pim’s short stories, poems, and articles have been published in various websites, literary magazines and journals, including the Mekong Review, the Nikkei Asian Review, Den of Geek, and YesPoetry. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature from King’s College London, and graduated with Distinction from Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland with a Masters in Creative Writing. She has performed her poetry at events in Edinburgh hosted by Shoreline of Infinity and the Scottish BAME Writers Network. Her debut novel, The Moon Represents My Heart, was published by OneWorld Publications in the UK in June 2023, with American rights bought by Blackstone Publishing. Television rights sold after a competitive auction to 21 Laps and Netflix, with actress Gemma Chan set to star and produce. pimwangtechawat.net
Natelle Quek
Natelle Quek is a Malaysian-born illustrator who grew up in New Zealand, and now lives in leafy Southeast England with her husband, an apathetic cat, and a loud-snoring dog.
Natelle currently focuses on children’s illustration, in particular picture books, young fiction, and non-fiction. She loves to use bold colours and cinematic perspectives to draw audiences into her worlds. Working digitally, her illustrations often revolve around real life themes commingled with fantastical adventures. Natelle draws from constant evolving influences, from popular culture, to her heritage and personal experiences, through to the natural world. In her free time Natelle loves to explore nature trails with her husband, cuddle her pets, and tend to her seemingly endless collection of house plants. Her latest book is Wild Wild Wood, written by Anna Kemp. Find her on natellequek.com and on Twitter and Instagram as @natellequek
Natelle kindly allowed us to use her illustrations on this website. Thank you, Natelle!
Nadia Mikael
Nadia Mikail is a full-time houseplant owner and a part-time investigative journalist of what London’s pigeons are planning when they flock together like that. She is mostly unsuccessful at (but still hopeful about) both these occupations. She is from Sarawak in Malaysia, where the air is always sweeter, the food is always tastier, and the pigeons are considerably less bold. Nadia’s debut YA novel, The Cats We Meet Along the Way won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2023, winning in the Older Reader’s category before taking home the overall prize. "Poignant, thoughtful and life-affirming." The Bookseller
You can find Nadia on Twitter and Instagram as @snsknene
Mina Ikemoto Ghosh
Mina Ikemoto Ghosh is a British-Japanese writer, born in Surrey with family in Wakayama prefecture, Japan. Raised on a diet of Japanese murder-mysteries and British fantasy novels, her writing often ends up in the shadowy zone between the two. After studying STEM with a BA in Natural Sciences, she entertained family by embarking on misadventures in writing, illustration and freelance translation instead. She has an MSc in Japanese Studies from the University of Oxford, with focuses on classical Japanese literature and contemporary anthropology, and uses these as sources of inspiration for her stories. She was shortlisted the two times she entered the UK Manga Jiman in 2019 (3rd) and 2021 (placing 2nd in the main category, and 1st in the flash comic category). Her debut novel The Hellmaker is due to be published by Scholastic. Find her on Twitter as @ikemoto_m and on Instagram as @minaikemoto119.
Mina kindly allowed us to use her illustration as the banner of this website. Thank you, Mina!
Lucy Tandon Copp
Lucy Tandon Copp is a Malaysian-Chinese English children's author and award-winning journalist; her debut picture book is due to publish in August 2024 as the first in a two-book deal. In 2022, Lucy was selected to join Penguin UK's WriteNow Editorial Programme, which champions authors from underrepresented backgrounds. She is now represented by Lydia Silver from the Darley Anderson Children’s Book Agency. Lucy is passionate about increasing mixed race and BESEA representation in children's books and on UK bookshelves. Her stories are bursting with heart and spread a message of inclusivity and empathy through lovable characters that everyone can relate to. After reading Classics at the University of Bristol, Lucy completed an NCTJ diploma in multimedia journalism at News Associates in London with a scholarship from the NUJ’s George Viner Memorial Fund, which aims to increase diversity in the British media. She went on to spend 10 years working across newspapers, and consumer and trade magazines, before moving into children's publishing. @lucytc_writes
L Kiew
A Chinese-Malaysian living in London, L Kiew works as a charity sector leader and accountant. She holds a MSc in Creative Writing and Literary Studies from Edinburgh University. Her debut pamphlet The Unquiet was published by Offord Road Books in 2019. She was longlisted in the 2019 National Poetry Competition and was a 2019/2020 London Library Emerging Writer. L Kiew’s first collection More than Weeds was published by Nine Arches Press in February 2023. lhhkiew.co.uk
Eva
Wong Nava
Eva Wong Nava is a child of the diaspora. She was born in Singapura, a tropical island where a merlion protects its inhabitants from marauding pirates. Eva lives between two worlds, and multiple universes. She is a sixth generation Peranakan-Chinese, a person of Nusantara, who exists in two cultures, heritages, and languages. Eva's ancestors sailed from the Middle Kingdom in the 19th century to plant roots in Nanyang. She combines degrees in English and Art History, and writes for children across age ranges and genres, in the English language. She is the author of award-winning YA historical fiction, The House of Little Sisters, and the best-selling picture book I Love Chinese New Year. Eva lives in the Land of Albion with a goat, tiger, and dog. Contact her on Twitter and Instagram @evawongnava, or find her at evawongnava.com.
Ella King
Ella King is a British-Singaporean writer living in London. A corporate lawyer and an award-winning writer, her essays on race and motherhood have featured in ELLE Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar. Her debut novel, Bad Fruit (HarperCollins) was one of Grazia's Best Books of 2022 and was described as “a blistering psychological thriller” (New York Times), “disturbing, poignant and memorable” (The Observer) and "a beautiful, bewitching unputdownable dream of a book" (Lisa Jewell). @therealellaking
Elizabeth Wong
Elizabeth Wong is a Malaysian author and geologist. She grew up in Kuala Lumpur. Liz is interested in stories of Malaysia and also of this large world we live in—deserts, seas, rocks. Her debut novel, We Could Not See The Stars, is published by John Murray Press / Hachette, and was longlisted for the Bath Novel Award and Lucy Cavendish Prize. She has degrees in Geology and English from Yale University and Imperial College London. Liz lives in London with her husband and two children. Find her at theelizabethwong.com.
Eliza Chan
Eliza Chan is a Scottish-born speculative fiction author who writes about East Asian mythology, British folklore and reclaiming the dragon lady. Her short fiction has been published in The Dark, Podcastle, Fantasy Magazine, The Best of British Fantasy and Unquiet Spirits: Essays by Asian Women in Horror. Her debut novel Fathomfolk — inspired by mythology, ESEAN cities and diaspora feels — will be published by Orbit in Spring 2024.
She has been a medical school drop-out, a kilt shop assistant, an English teacher and a speech and language therapist, but currently she spends her time tabletop gaming, cosplaying, crafting and toddler wrangling.
Find out more on her website www.elizachan.co.uk.
Cristina Martinez-
Juan
Cristina Martinez-Juan has a PhD in Comparative Literature. In 2017, she spearheaded the creation of Philippine Studies at SOAS under the Centre of South East Asian Studies, an interdisciplinary forum for Philippine-related teaching, research and cultural production in the UK. Cristina has implemented a number of SOAS digital projects that seek to not only provide open access to colonial archives but also create avenues for sourcing and inscribing annotative knowledge from academic and cultural originators in the Philippines and South East Asia. Ongoing Digital Humanities Projects include: Digital Filipiniana and Mapping Philippine Material Culture . She is currently working on a knowledge-base for Decolonizing South East Asian Sound Archives with an AHRC funded grant.
Cat Aquino
Cat Aquino is a Manila-born, queer Filipino author, graphic novelist, teacher, researcher, and Erasmus Mundus International Master student of Children's Literature, Media, and Culture currently living in London. Champion of the Rose, her anti-imperialist, epic fantasy YA manga series inspired by Spain's colonial history and co-created with artist Dominique Duran, follows a princess and a trans swordsman's fight for freedom in a deadly tournament. The series launches worldwide in 2024 with VIZ Media's Originals imprint. Find her on cataquino.net
She is @cat_aquino on Twitter and @cat.aquino on Instagram
Camille Whitcher
Camille is a British-Japanese illustrator and author based in London. She is a 2016 graduate of the MA in Children’s Book Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art. In 2017, she won the inaugural Stratford Literary Festival - Salariya Children’s Picture Book Prize. Her debut picture book, Luna and the Moon Rabbit, was published in 2018 (paperback 2019) by Scribblers - an imprint of the Salariya Book Company. Much of her recent work is made using pencil with digital colour, though she still likes to use inks, watercolours, and coloured pencils. Her favourite things to illustrate are animals, flowers, and folk/fairy tales. In her free time Camille likes running, reading, and sewing - not simultaneously, of course! Find her on camillewhitcher.co.uk • Twitter @CamilleWhitcher •
Instagram @milly_of_bunston
Camille kindly allowed us to use her illustrations on this website. Thank you, Camille!
Candy Gourlay
Candy Gourlay was born in the Philippines, grew up under a dictatorship and met her husband during a revolution. She has been shortlisted for the Waterstones and the Blue Peter Prize (Tall Story), the Guardian Prize (Shine) and the Costa and Carnegie (Bone Talk). Her latest novel for young adults Wild Song transports its characters to the 1904 World Fair in America. She loves making comics and waging war on the snails in her garden. “Wild Song is a stunning achievement” The Bookseller. Find her on candygourlay.co.uk • Twitter @candygourlay • Instagram @candygourlay
A.Y.
Chao
Alice is the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of Shanghai Immortal, the first in a trilogy following charmingly profane half-fox spirit, half-vampire Lady Jing. She’s fascinated by the spaces where identity and belonging intersect and explores these in her writing. A recovering lawyer and xiaolongbao enthusiast, she knits to soothe anxiety and has a deep abiding love for Hobonichi planners and kawaii planner stickers. She lives in London with her geo-historian hubby, chatterbox daughter, and sweet rescue pup. She’s grateful for the support of the Canada Council for the Arts. Find her online at aychao.com and @ay_chao on Twitter and Instagram.
Anne Chen
Anne Chen is British-Chinese and lives in London with her husband and two children. She studied Physics at UCL and the University of Surrey and worked in research on Ion Beam Analysis. She has a post graduate diploma in Actuarial Science. Anne has written for Oxford University Press and is currently writing MG and YA Chinese fantasy with magical martial arts, secret societies and sentient swords. She also enjoys reading and writing science fiction. Anne is an alumna of the London Writers Awards (2018) and the HarperCollins Author Academy programme (2022). She participates in the MG writing group with the Megaphone Writers Community, which amplifies children’s writers of colour. Anne is a happy member of the Bubble Tea Writers Network for ESEA creatives and enjoys their regular lunchtime meet-ups. Find her on Twitter @AnneChen92016 and Instagram @AnneChen321
Anne Elicaño- Shields
Anne Elicaño-Shields, an emerging Filipino writer, is based in London. Previously based in Manila, Bangkok, and Washington DC, her writing is inspired by the myths, folklore, and urban legends of these places. Anne's stories have found their way to multiple platforms. Her retelling of The Aeneid as a feminist space opera was recorded for The Classical Association podcast. She also did a public reading at the 2022 London Literature Festival at the Southbank Centre. Her awards include: 2023 Future Worlds Prize for Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers - Finalist; 2022 FAB (Faber and Faber) Prize – Highly Commended, 2022 Creative Future Writers' Award, 2021 London Writers Awards- Literary Fiction, and the 2007 International Essay Competition for Young People. Anne’s creative writing has been published in anthologies (How It Started and Tales from the City) and her non-fiction articles have been published in the World Bank website, the Guardian, Radio Times, CNN Travel, and more. Anne is represented by Jo Williamson of Antony Harwood Ltd. You can find Anne on Twitter as @aeshields2 and Instagram as @lavieannerose