Archives: Authors

An award-winning writer, Saras Manickam’s story, ‘My Mother Pattu’ won the regional prize for Asia in the 2019 Commonwealth Short Story Contest. In 2021, it was included in the anthology, The Art and Craft of Asian Stories, published by Bloomsbury, and in 2022, it was published in The Best of Malaysian Short Fiction in English 2010-2020. Saras Manickam worked as a teacher, teacher-trainer, copywriter, Business English trainer, copy-editor, and writer of textbooks, school workbooks and coffee-table books while writing short stories at night. Her various work experiences enabled insights into characters, and life experiences, shaping the authenticity which marks her stories. She also won the 2017 DK Dutt Award for her story, ‘Charan’. Some of her other stories have appeared in Silverfish and Readings from Readings anthologies, while one was shortlisted for the 2021 Masters Review Summer Short Story Award. She lives and works in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Maryanne Moll has written three books. Her first book, Awakenings (2001), and her second book, Little Freedoms (2003), are both collections of essays. Her third book, Married Women (2014), is a short story collection, and the book was a finalist for the Cirilo F. Bautista Prize for Best Book of Short Fiction in English in 2014. Her short story ‘At Merienda’ won Third Prize in the 2005 Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature.
Her short stories have also been included in anthologies, which includes Philippine Speculative Fiction IV, Philippine Genre Stories: Special Crime Edition, and Anomalous 30. She was a fellow for the National Writer’s Workshops in the University of Santo Tomas (2002), Dumaguete (2002), and the University of the Philippines (2021). Before writing fiction, she was a reporter and columnist for Bikol Daily, and also worked as disk jockey and newscaster for an FM radio station in Naga City, Camarines Sur. She has created and managed some publications for the Philippine National Police. More recently, she has worked as a Publications Specialist for a government-owned-and-controlled corporation for more than ten years.
She has earned units for the degree Master of Arts in Creative Writing at the University of the Philippines Diliman, before transferring to a different degree program. She is currently working on her thesis for Master of Arts in Comparative Literature, Major in Literary Theory, at the UP Diliman.

Born in 1971 in Haifa Israel, Guy Wachs grew up immersed in the family’s hospitality business and went on to train in hospitality administration and management in Germany at the prestigious Hotelfachschule Villingen-Schwenningen. Having developed a passion for fine wine and dining and armed with his new professional skills, Guy moved to New York City where he gained more experience in well-known establishments like the iconic Cafe Luxembourg and then Cafe Centro, winning awards along the way for his innovation.
Guy moved to Asia in 2004 and began working in Bangkok for the Singapore based Raffles Hotel Group. A subsequent move to Singapore led to the opening of his own restaurant, Wild Honey in 2009. Since then, Guy’s business has expanded into three popular outlets. Guy now spends his time managing his restaurants and mentoring budding entrepreneurs and guest speaking at the Singapore Management University and the Culinary Institute of Singapore. On weekends, Guy can be found bike riding around the coast of Singapore and enjoying experimenting with new culinary creations to introduce to his loyal customers.
Today, some thirteen years later in a post-Covid world, Guy has rewritten the rule book of how to operate and keep sane in a business so dependent on adapting and remaining agile. Singapore continues to be home, but Guy is infused with optimism and hopes that perhaps Wild Honey may cross Singapore’s borders and open overseas.

Ploy Kingchatchaval graduated with a BA in English Literature from the University of Cambridge in 2016 and an MA in Issues in Modern Culture from University College London in 2017. She translated the English screenplay for Puangsoi Aksornsawang’s second feature film I open a curtain to see a dead bird and Jirassaya Wongsutin’s debut feature film Flat Girls, both in development. She currently lives in Bangkok, Thailand with her dog Tofu.

Saurabh Mukherjea, a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an alumnus of the London School of Economics, is the author of four best-selling books on subjects including investing, business strategy and self-improvement. Prior to Marcellus, he was the CEO of Ambit Capital and before that, the co-founder of Clear Capital (UK). Saurabh manages Marcellus Investment Managers.

ANA LUENEBURGER has had a global career with organizations such as INSEAD, Danone and the Boston Consulting Group. Following a decade and a half of coaching and advisory work, Ana is a Master Certified Coach (MCC) with the International Coaching Federation, has a PhD in business from the University of St Gallen, Switzerland, was a postdoctoral research fellow in change management at INSEAD, France, and a founding fellow of the Institute of Coaching at Harvard Medical School, USA. Ana is also a fully licensed and accredited integrative psychotherapist in the UK.

Anita Othman is a born and bred Malay Singaporean who grew up with a love of reading at a young age. Second-hand book stores became her second home for many years. She graduated from the National University of Singapore with a degree in Literature and English Language. She was a civil servant for more than a decade until her husband was posted to Germany. As a result, she stopped working and joined him together with their daughter. With time on her hands, she focused on her love of creative writing. After Germany, the family moved to Jakarta where she became a regular columnist for the Jakarta Globe and Jakarta Post. On her return to Singapore, she started on her debut novel while pursuing a Diploma in Sports
Science. Her novel Still Waters was published in 2021.

Uthis Haemamool was born in 1975 in Kaeng Khoi district, Saraburi province in central Thailand. Among his seven published novels and four short stories collection, he became widely known for the Kaeng Khoi Trilogy containing the novels The Brotherhood of Kaeng Khoi, which won him the Seven Book Awards and the S.E.A. Write Award in 2009; The Elegy, and The Fabulist. In 2017, his novel Silhouette of Desire was translated and published in Japanese, followed by an art exhibition of the same name that showcases his drawings and paintings. The novel was then adapted for the stage under the direction of Toshiki Okada, which premiered in Bangkok and staged at Centre Pompidou Paris in 2018 and Tokyo in 2019.

Palin Ansusinha graduated with a BA in English Language and Literature from King’s College London in 2017. She translated several Thai short stories into English, including ‘The World Shattered Yesterday’, ‘Tender Mercies’, and ‘The Weretiger Tale’ by Phu Kradat. In 2020, she co-founded soi literary, a literary agency to promote contemporary Thai literature to an international audience. She currently lives in Bangkok, Thailand with her cat Jamu.

Ploy Kingchatchaval graduated with a BA in English Literature from the University of Cambridge in 2016 and an MA in Issues in Modern Culture from University College London in 2017. She translated the English screenplay for Puangsoi Aksornsawang’s second feature film I open a curtain to see a dead bird and Jirassaya Wongsutin’s debut feature film Flat Girls, both in development. She currently lives in Bangkok, Thailand with her dog Tofu.

Aishwariyaa Ramakanthan’s writing is a fusion of flavours. It is reflective of the multi-cultural ethos of her birthplace, Singapore; of the languid grace of Malaysia where she was raised; of the eclectic lifestyles of the United States where she now lives; and of the rich cultural heritage of India, where she engages in her other passion, Indian Classical music. Ramakanthan is a graduate of the National University of Singapore and the University of San Diego, California. She travels to Singapore frequently to reconnect with family and friends and to energize her bond with the city. Typically a night owl, Aishwariyaa writes best when the rest of the world is asleep. Her first novel, Beyond the Shores of Home, is available on Amazon.