The list of Eastlit Writers February 2017 is alphabetical by first name:
Ali Shan Artani
Colin W. Campbell
Colin escaped from the day job in the UK and now writes very short fiction and poetry in Sarawak on the lovely green island of Borneo and faraway in Yunnan in southwest China. www.south-east-asia.asia
C.J. Anderson-Wu
C.J. Anderson-Wu has translated several significant literary works such as Darkness Visible by British writer William Golding, Fanny: Being the True History of the Adventures of Fanny Hackabout-Jones by American writer Erica Jong, and Decayed Lust by Taiwanese writer Chung Wenyin, among others. Since 2006 her priority is to build up an international readership for Taiwanese literature. She founded Serenity International Publishing House which publishes the English version of Taiwanese literary works. Titles of Serenity International include Sorceress Diguwan by Badai, Decayed Land by Chung Wenyin, and Undelivered- Anthology of Tainan Literature by 13 Tainan writers.
Given that the development of contemporary Taiwanese literature had been severely slowed down during the White Terror period and the traumatic past was hardly heard of, C.J. Anderson-Wu began to write about the historical incidents and how the life of ordinary people had been impacted by the historical injustice that is still not fully discussed in Taiwan’s society today. Her coming work in 2016 is “Impossible to Swallow”.
Esther Vincent
Esther Vincent is a poet from Singapore, who also teaches Literary Arts and Literature. She writes poetry that resonate on both the personal and political level, and believes that poetry should empower, not exclude, engage, not evade. She was co-editor of a poetry anthology, Little Things (2013) and the accompanying Teacher’s Guide (2013). Her poems have been published in Unhomed (2016), Sound of Mind (2014), Little Things (2013), Ceriph #4 (2011) and online at <messageinabottlepoetrymagazine> Editorial 13 and on LIVEPress tumblr (2014-2015). Her poem, “Excuse me, what is your race?” was also translated into Russian in To Go To S’pore (2013) by Kirill Cherbitski. She is currently working on a new collection of poems that deal with the human condition and existence in relation to time/ space/ place.
Jonathan Tan
Born and raised in Singapore, Jonathan has worked and lived in Berlin and London. He once bungee-jumped and climbed a volcano to reason out the meaning of life. His stories have appeared in The Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, Mascara Literary Review Australia, Azuria Literary Journal Australia.
Kate Rogers
Kate Rogers’ latest poetry collection, Foreign Skin, debuted with Toronto’s Aeolus House Press in 2015. In the summer of 2016 Kate was a featured reader for the Toronto poetry reading series, Hot Sauced Words and the Aeolus House-Quattro event in Toronto. Kate also read at Artfest, in Kingston, Ontario.
Kate is co-editor of the OutLoud Too anthology (MCCM 2014), and the world poetry anthology, Not a Muse: the Inner Lives of Women (Haven 2009).
Her poetry has appeared in The Guardian (UK); Quixotica (HK); Eastlit (Thailand); Asia Literary Review (UK); Cha: an Asian Literary Journal (HK); Morel (Canada); The Goose: a Journal of Arts, Environment and Culture (Canada); Kyoto Journal (Japan); ASIATIC: the Journal of the Islamic University of Malaysia (Malaysia); Orbis International (UK), Many Mountains Moving (US), and Contemporary Verse II (Canada). Two poems are forthcoming in Of Zoos (Singapore).
Kate lectures in Language and Literature at the Community College of City University, Hong Kong. She is a member of the League of Canadian Poets.
Lakan Umali
Lakan Umali graduated with a BA in Anthropology from UP Diliman, and is currently pursuing an MA in Sociology from the same university. He also works for an organization specializing in community-based disaster risk reduction and management. His works have been included in Philippine Speculative Fiction Volume 10, Kritika Kultura, Science Fiction: Filipino Fiction for Young Adults, and the forthcoming Lontar: Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction. He is also a Carly Rae Jepsen apologist.
M. Leland Oroquieta
M. Leland Oroquieta has been a library page, draftsman, cashier, stray cat, and other things he can’t remember, while reading for a humanities course at university. He lives on the edge of a valley, near an ocean. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Cricket Online Review, Eunoia Review, Ink Sweat & Tears, Lunaris Review, Local Nomad: An Online Journal of Writing & Art, Origins Journal,and Queen Mob’s Teahouse. His website can be found at: http://mlelandoroquieta.wordpress.com/
Murali Kamma
Murali Kamma is the managing editor of an Atlanta-based magazine (www.Khabar.com). His fiction has appeared in Lakeview International Journal of Literature and Arts, Rosebud, Asian Pacific American Journal, South Asian Review, AIM, Muse India, The Missing Slate, India Currents, and Trikone Magazine. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has published his opinion columns, and he is an occasional contributor to New York-based India Abroad. For an editorial, he received a Gamma Gold Award from the Magazine Association of the Southeast (MAGS). He has interviewed, among other authors, Salman Rushdie, Anita Desai, William Dalrymple, Pankaj Mishra, Pico Iyer, and Patrick French.
Natasya Ismail
Natasya Ismail lives up to the self-made motto: ‘write despite what has been written’. A third-year English Literature student in Nanyang Technological University, she lives and breathes writing made incrementally easier while dramatically mouthing the lyrics to Radiohead’s Let Down.
Qing Yang
Qing Yang, Ph.D., was born and raised in China. Graduate work in molecular biology brought her to the United States. A foray into creative writing, however, has proven to be a fulfilling digression from her lengthy portfolio of scientific publications. Her short stories have won writing contests and have been published in anthologies. She has also published a number of magazine articles and two books in China. Currently, she is working on two novels—Wings of a Flying Tiger and Will of a Tiger.
Randy Gonzales
Randy Gonzales was born and raised in New Orleans, but spent a large part of his adult life residing outside of the United States in places like Fukui, Yongin, Abu Dhabi, Pohang, Calamba, Alabang, and Al Ain. He is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. For more on Randy go to www.gonzales22.com.
Rizwan Akhtar
Rizwan Akhtar is Assistant Professor in the Department of English, Punjab University, Lahore Pakistan. His poems have appeared in Poetry Salzburg Review, Poetry NZ, Wasafiri, Postcolonial Text (Canada), decanto, Poesia (US), Exiled Ink, Pakistaniat : A Journal of Pakistani Studies(US), Solidarity International, Orbis, Edinburgh Poetry Journal, Alban Lake Publishing(US), The Other Poetry, The Waggle, Planet; The Welsh International, Wolf, South Asian Review, Gutter: New Scottish Writings, Open Road Review, Cortegena(US), ScottishPen, tinfoildresses (US), and in Bloodaxe anthology Out of Bounds (2011).
Roopa Shroff
Roopa R, is a medical professor at St. John’s medical college, Bengaluru, India.
She first published her collection of poems in ‘Indian Journal of Psychiatry (2007;49:221-2) under sublimatory therapy in the literary section as a guest poet under T.M. Raghuram.
Her first poetry book ‘Break Through’ has been published by Partridge India (2nd October 2014, Soft cover ISBN 978 – 1 – 4828 – 3932 – 6, and eBook 978-1-4828-3931-9) consisting of 81 poems.
She is trained in poetry and ‘Voice in fiction’ courses under ‘Bangalore writers workshop’ and has completed the online certified course under Stanford University successfully.
Vanessa Crofskey
Vanessa Crofskey is a mixed-race Chinese poet, born and raised in Wellington, New Zealand. Her writing has appeared in Cahoodadoodling, Uptalk Mag, Kate Mag, Dear Journal and The Machinery. She has performed across Auckland, and was the 2015 UoA’s Slam Champ. Her work is introspective, identifying everyday racism, diaspora and what it means to search for home.
Dr. Vishal Farid Raza
Dr. Vishal Farid Raza is a medical doctor, who is a graduate of The Aga Khan University Hospital Medical College and wishes to pursue a career in Pediatric Surgery. He is a born and bred Pakistani, with a sense of patriotism that evolved while caring for the underprivileged citizens during his years as a medical student. Alongside which also came a sense of social responsibility and curiosity towards societies in his country and region at large. He has written pieces in local newspapers about social issues that exist and has a few poems published in a local youth magazine. His passion for literature developed at a young age and persisted as a hobby, hopefully lifelong.
Waqas Naeem
Waqas Naeem is a journalism instructor at the National University of Sciences & Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan, and part-time poet. He is also the director of the South Asian literary collective Desi Writers’ Lounge, which supports emerging writers and poets. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Papercuts magazine, Asian Reflections and Subprimal Poetry Art.
Zinia Mitra
Zinia Mitra is the Head of the Department of English at Nakshalbari College, Darjeeling, India. She has carved a niche for herself as a critic, reviewer and translator. Her travelogues and articles have been published in The Statesman. Her reviews, articles, translations have been widely published in books and journals. Her books include: Indian Poetry in English Critical Essays , Poetry of Jayanta Mahapatra: Imagery and Experiential Identity and Twentieth Century British Literature: Reconstructing Literary Sensibility. Her poems have been published in Muse India, Ruminations, Contemporary Literary Review India, Kavya Bharati. She was the invited poet at the Fifth International Poetry Fest, Andra Pradesh, India.
