Archives: Authors

Ivy Ngeow was born and raised in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. She holds an MA in Writing from Middlesex University, where she won the 2005 Middlesex University Literary Press Prize out of almost 1500 entrants worldwide. Her debut, Cry of the Flying Rhino (2017), was awarded the International Proverse Prize in Hong Kong. Her novels include Heart of Glass (2018), Overboard (2020) and White Crane Strikes (2022). She is commissioning editor of the Asian Anthology New Writing series. The American Boyfriend was longlisted for the Avon x Mushens Entertainment Prize for Commercial Fiction Writers of Colour 2022. She lives in London.

Dano Chow is a writer from Batu Pahat, Malaysia. His first short story ‘Sons and Daughters’ was published in Little Basket 2017: New Malaysian Writing by Fixi Novo. In 2021, his poetry collection Everything in Life Is a Fire was published by Shuren Press. In 2023, his poem ‘The world is not masculine’ was published in Issue 11 of Portside Review. His debut novel Unquiet Heart Soliloquy was published by Penguin Random House SEA in 2023. Dano has served as an editor for architectural publisher Suburbia Projects, and graphic design studio Where’s Gut. He holds an MA in Philosophy from the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy (CRMEP). He also translates from Malay and Mandarin into English with the aid of his trusty corgi, Pagi.

Bonnie Hayden Cheng is passionate about corporate wellness – the ‘S’ of ESG. She holds a unique position designing and implementing cutting-edge, research-backed solutions to help companies deliver impact on real-world challenges and create awesome corporate cultures where people thrive.

She is an Associate Professor of Management and MBA Program Director of HKU Business School, University of Hong Kong, having received her PhD from the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. She is the Chief Resilience Officer at Human at Work, Scientific Advisor of One Mind at Work, Ex-Officio member of the Male Allies Leadership Council, an initiative of The Women’s Foundation Hong Kong, and Academy of Management Scholar and Subject Matter Expert.

As a wellbeing advocate, she works closely with leading organizations to champion mental health in the workplace. Her work transforming companies to make positive change has received numerous awards across various sectors. Her research has been published in prestigious journals such as the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, and Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and profiled by outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes, and Harvard Business Review.

Jonel Abellanosa lives in Cebu City, The Philippines. Nominated for the Pushcart, Dwarf Stars and Best of the Net awards, his poetry and fiction have appeared in hundreds of magazines and anthologies, including The McNeese Review (McNeese State University, Louisiana), Agape Review, The Lyric, Poetry Salzburg Review (University of Salzburg, Austria), Anglican Theological Review, The Cape Rock (Southern Missouri State University), Chiron Review and Invisible City (University of San Francisco). His poetry collections include Songs from My Mind’s Tree and Multiverse (Clare Songbirds Publishing House, New York), 50 Acrostic Poems, (Cyberwit, India), In the Donald’s Time (Poetic Justice Books and Art, Florida), Instrumentals (Lemures Press), and Pan’s Saxophone (Weasel Press, Texas). He is a nature lover and an advocate for the environment and animal rights and comforts. He has three companion dogs-Yves, Donna and their daughter Daisy. Healers is his first novel in his planned three-novel series.

Stella Kon’s best-known work is the monodrama Emily of Emerald Hill, which appeared in 1982 and has since been performed almost a thousand times in Singapore, Malaysia and elsewhere. She has also written poems, novels and other plays, and librettos for several musicals with composer Desmond Moey. In 2006 she helped to found the arts charity Musical Theatre Ltd, and was its chairperson for 14 years. More about Stella can be found on her website, www.emilyofemeraldhill.com.sg.

Stella loves to travel to visit her two sons and their families — Mark, Colette and children in Harrogate, Yorkshire, and Luke and Gini and children in Sydney, Australia. She meditates regularly with the Singapore branch of the World Community for Christian Meditation.

Plays by Stella Kon: The Bridge, Trial, Emily of Emerald Hill, Dragon’s Teeth Gate.
Collections: 9 Classroom Plays, 3 Stellar Plays
Novels: The Scholar and the Dragon. Eston.
Musicals: Lost in Transit, Peter and Pierre, Merlion, Emily the Musical, Lim Boon Keng the Musical

Ferdinand Pisigan Jarin is one of the Philippine’s foremost author and creative non-fictionist. He is the author of Six Saturdays of Beyblade and other Essays (originally Anim na Sabado ng Beyblade at Iba Pang Sanaysay), which won a National Book Award for Best Book of Nonfiction in Filipino in 2014 from the Manila Critics Circle and National Book Development Board and was a finalist for Madrigal-Gonzales First Best Book Award administered by the University of the Philippines Institute of Creative Writing (UP ICW). The book, since its first edition up to the present, is a consistent bestseller for creative nonfiction in Filipino. Its main story, the Six Saturdays of Beyblade is one of the mandatory readings for the Philippines’ secondary students studying Philippine and Asian Literature. Jarin is a three-time Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awardee for Literature, the Philippines’ most prestigious literary award-giving body. Jarin is teaching Filipino Language and Creative Writing at the Division of Humanities of the College of Arts and Sciences, University of the Philippines Visayas.

John Toledo is an emerging author, translator, and creative nonfictionist from the Philippines. He translated to English the Filipino original of the Six Saturdays of Beyblade and it was first published in the winter issue of the Asymptote Journal (2021). He currently writes criticism and essays about Philippine literature and pop culture in both Filipino and English. A graduate of the Filipino creative writing program at the University of the Philippines Diliman, Toledo teaches Filipino language, Philippine and World Literature and Creative Writing in various universities in the Philippines. Six Saturdays of Beyblade is his first book of translation.

Chew Ngee Tan was born and raised in Singapore with a love for reading and writing. She graduated from the National University of Singapore, majoring in Sociology. She completed a Master’s degree in Liberal Studies at Rice University in Texas, USA, after working as an English Language and Social Studies educator in Singapore for a few years. Always intrigued by her own and others’ experiences, historical events, and nature, she is now a writer who creates stories to capture the beauty of being human and the interconnectedness of life. Sweet Braised Duck is her first novel.

Chua Kok Yee’s debut novel Not A Monster won the 2nd Fixi Novo Malaysian Novel contest. He started writing about fifteen years ago, and his short stories have been published in various anthologies and periodicals including Best Of Malaysian Short Fiction in English 2010-2020 (Malaysia Writers Society, 2022), Ronggeng-ronggeng: Malaysia Short Stories (Maya Press 2019), Remang (Terrerbooks, 2017) Little Basket: 2016 (Fixi, 2016), KL Noir Blue (Fixi, 2014), Black and White and Other New Short Stories from Malaysia (CCCPress, 2012), Selangor Times, and Esquire Malaysia. He co-authored News From Home with Shih-li Kow and Rumaizah Abu Bakar in 2007, and his own collection of short stories, Without Anchovies, was published in 2010. Three of his stories from Without Anchovies are currently required reading for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia English Literature paper. Follow him on Twitter @ chuakoky33.

Pamda Bure (aka Bunyaporn Burechittinantta) is a BKK-based writer. Educated in Thailand, New Zealand, Japan and Australia, she enjoys exploring many facets of cultures worldwide and drawing inspiration from them. Peripatetic and adventurous, she is never daunted and always looks for the quietly amusing, idiosyncratic side of things regardless of the situation. When not immersed in writing stories or thinking about writing one, Pamda can be found pondering existential meanings. Her life goal is to become a tango gypsy (live in a horse-drawn caravan).