Archives: Authors

Elaine Chan
Elaine has been a journalist for more than two decades, covering Asia and China’s phenomenal rise, writing for the likes of South China Morning Post, Bloomberg News and the Associated Press. She began her journalism
career in Hong Kong, arriving in the city the same day as the last British governor of the then colonial city. In the year that Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule, she relocated to Shanghai to work for Knight-Ridder Financial and Bloomberg, serving as the latter’s first Asian bureau chief.

While growing up in her native Singapore, she trained in Western art and painting, but realising she’d never be a Van Gogh decided to pursue journalism to write stories that would help the underdogs and right some of
society’s wrongs.

In 2009, Elaine moved into public relations, specialising in M&A and capital market transaction communications, working on some of the region’s biggest cross-border deals. But she returned to her bigger passion – journalism, which she believes is the society’s conscience – in 2017, and is currently a senior
editor at the South China Morning Post.

Keeping a sense of adventure and humour is what keeps her going. She continues to paint occasionally, and harbours hope of one day hosting a mini exhibition of her works.

Elaine has an MA in Social Science.

Lee Jeong-ho
Jeong-ho has been a journalist covering Asia and China for South China Morning Post, and News1 Korea. He believes media exists for the progression of democracy, to empower individual citizens of democratic ideals via the spreading of information. Media that fails to serve this purpose becomes an
institution for propaganda, he believes.

Jeong-ho grew up in South Korea and Australia. He had also worked as an officer for the South Korean Air Force, before he became a journalist – preparing analytical reports and papers on sensitive and high-profile matters of concern to North Korean politics and human rights issues. He solidified the value of democracy and the danger authoritarianism during his service, and
decided to pursue journalism to protect democratic ideals and freedom of individuals.

He is a PhD student in politics at King’s College London. He has a master’s degree of international studies in Chinese area studies from Seoul National University, and a bachelor’s degree in media and communications and Chinese studies from Sydney University.

Gary Lai is an economist whose writing has appeared in the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), the Daily Caller (USA), the Toronto Star, and the Daily Monitor (Uganda), among other publications, on topics ranging from Aboriginal employment in British Columbia to girls’ education in Hong Kong.
Gary’s interest in poverty issues led him to found the anti-poverty campaign TKO Poverty at Columbia University in 2005. Gary received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Southern California and a Master of Economics from the University of Hong Kong. He also attended the University of British Columbia Allard School of Law and Columbia University. Lai was shortlisted for a Chevening Scholarship and was nominated for a JCI Hong Kong Ten Outstanding Young Persons Award in 2016.

Nabeel Ismeer builds solar power plants across Asia during the day.
He spends his nights writing, centred around the question ‘What if?’. What if the stone age had a Leonardo Da Vinci, was Lascaux her Mona Lisa? What if prehistoric leaders resorted to discrimination when they had no answer to the ice age? What if mitigating climate change can also help reverse inequality and further humanity?
His writings, which include themes of climate change and inequality, have been published in print and online magazines.
The Hunter’s Walk is his first book.

Ram Anand is a published writer, filmmaker, and a former journalist based in Malaysia. He had also spent over eight years writing for various news publications in Malaysia- namely Malaysiakini, The Malaysian Insider, The Malay Mail. He periodically writes opinion pieces in The Malay Mail after leaving journalism in 2018.
He recently finished a Masters in Directing Film and Television at Bournemouth University, United Kingdom, and has written and directed three short films to date, two in United Kingdom, and another in India. His Tamil language short film made in India, Andhi, is currently being previewed at several film festivals across India.

Desmond Kon is the author of an epistolary novel, a quasi-memoir, two lyric essay monographs, four hybrid works, and nine poetry collections. A former journalist, he has edited more than twenty books and co-produced three audio books, several pro bono for non-profit organizations.
Trained in book publishing at Stanford University, Desmond studied sociology and mass communication at the National University of Singapore, and later received his Masters in theology (world religions) from Harvard University and Masters in fine arts (creative writing) from the University of Notre Dame.
In addition to grants from the National Arts Council and Singapore International Foundation, Desmond has enjoyed literary appointments at the Notre Dame Poetry Fellowship, NAC Writer-in-the-Gardens Residency, and NTU-NAC Creative Writing Residency.
Among other accolades, Desmond is the recipient of the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award, Independent Publisher Book Award, National Indie Excellence Book Award, Poetry World Cup, Singapore Literature Prize, two Beverly Hills International Book Awards, and three Living Now Book Awards.

Vivek Iyyani is a globally recognized leadership expert and keynote speaker, helping organizations and leaders work better together in the new normal. Vivek has spoken worldwide, to organizations and enterprises from Fortune 500 companies to associations to government institutions. He is the founder and CEO of Millennial Minds-a company that has helped leaders and teams leverage twenty-first century collaboration skills globally. He has been invited to many international media outlets to share his opinions as a thought leader on the Millennial generation. Some of his recent features include Channel NewsAsia, Money FM, Straits Times, SME Entrepreneur Magazine, CEO Magazine, and National Integration Council (Singapore Prime Minister’s Office). He has authored two other books entitled Empowering Millennials and Engaging Millennials. Learn more at https://www.vivekiyyani.com and follow him at @vivekiyyani on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter.

Mark Powell was born in Sevenoaks, Kent, in 1963 and now lives in Singapore. He’s an award-wining novelist, playwright and screenwriter. Known as an explosive storyteller, Mark delivers brutally realistic fiction with strong, clever and fearless characters. He credits his adventurous and fun childhood for his creative talents. He writes in several genres including thriller, action and adventure, romantic comedy and mystery, for adults and young adults.

His published works include: Quantum Breach (Marshall Cavendish, 2009), Deep Six (Marshall Cavendish, 2010), The Somali Sanction (Amazon, 2012), The Adventures of Danny Dare (Amazon, 2013), 16 Swipes: No Breakfast (Marshall Cavendish, 2019), 16 Swipes, The Other Perspective (Penguin Random House SEA, 2021), Bad Juice (Amazon, 2022) and now his latest novel, Duxton Hill. In the works are: The Silver Spoon Club and Escape.

Paul GnanaSelvam is an Ipoh-born writer and poet whose work often focuses on the experiences, issues and identity conflicts of those in the Indian diaspora. Writing since 2006, he has published both locally and internationally in anthologies, literary journals and e-magazines. His first collection of short stories, a mixed bag of themes on the slice-of-life stories of Malaysian Indians, was published in 2013. He currently teaches writing while undertaking research on instructional communication and L2 writing in Higher Education at University Tunku Abdul Rahman in Kampar, West Malaysia.

Dr Azly Rahman grew up in Johor Bahru, Malaysia and holds a Columbia University (New York City) doctorate in International Education Development and Masters degrees in six fields of study: Education, International Affairs, Peace Studies, Communication, Creative Non-Fiction, and Fiction Writing. He has written more than 350 analyses/essays on Malaysia. His 30 years of teaching experience in Malaysia and the United States spans over a wide range of subjects, from elementary to graduate education. He is a frequent contributor to scholarly online forums in Malaysia, the USA, Greece, and Montenegro.
He has edited and authored seven books; Multiethnic Malaysia: Past, Present, Future (2009), Thesis on Cyberjaya: Hegemony and Utopianism in a Southeast Asian State (2012), The Allah Controversy and Other Essays on Malaysian Hypermodernity (2013), Dark Spring: Essays on the Ideological Roots of Malaysia’s General Elections-13 (2013), a first Malay publication Kalimah Allah Milik Siapa?: Renungan dan Nukilan Tentang Malaysia di Era Pancaroba (2014), Controlled Chaos: Essays on Mahathirism, Multimedia Super Corridor and Malaysia’s ‘New Politics’ (2014), and One Nation under God, Bipolar (2015), a joint publication between Gerakbudaya and World Wise Books of New Jersey, USA, being a compilation of essays on Malaysian Cultural, Creative, and Critical Studies.

Vicky Chong graduated with Master of Arts – Creative Writing from Goldsmiths’ College, University of London, in September 2018. Her works have been published in Readers’ Digest, The Graduate and Singapore Marketer. Her creative non-fiction stories were published in two anthologies, My Story, My Life and Feast! by Singapore’s National Library Board. Her short story, Chun Kia, was one of the ten selected for 2017 George Town literary Festival Fringe Publication The Zine. Short story The Uber Driver won third prize in the 2018 Nick Joaquin Literary Awards Asia-Pacific. Her 200-word short story was published in The Sunday Times on 10 February 2019 in celebration of Valentine’s Day. Short story Harvey Crescent was published in Business Mirror, Philippines, on 24 February 2019, and ‘Camel’s Tears’ on 28 April 2019.

Two short stories published in November 2020 were Marriage Lessons in the anthology Letter to my Son, and My Girl in Singapore in the anthology A View of Stars.