Elaine Chiew

Set in different cities around the world--Hong Kong, Miami, New York, London, Ipoh and Singapore--Elaine Chiew's award-winning stories travel into the heart of the Singaporean-Malaysian diaspora, and ask what it means to be 'Chinese' or 'Asian' within the context of dual, or hyphenated, identities.

The Heartsick Diaspora, and Other Stories

Bonnie Jo Campbell

Cat Warren

Beth Kephart

Diane Lefer

Carol Guess

Sybil Baker

Ethel Rohan

Kim Chinquee

Kathleen Rooney

Tama Janowitz

Kathi Appelt

Sherrie Flick

Victoria Redel

Robin Black

Deb Olin Unferth

Kathy Fish

Molly Gaudry

Debra Di Blasi

Xu Xi

Ellen Meister

Jennifer Steil

Amina Gautier

Jo-Ann Mapson

Tara Laskowski

Kristine Ong Muslim

Natasha Saje

Roberta Allen

Susanna Sonnenberg

Pamela Painter

Jillian Sullivan

Nancy Stohlman

Liza Gardner Walsh

Tara Campbell

Patricia McConnell

Lisa Kastner

Ellen Boscov

Kristin Burcham

Sara Chansarkar

Mare Chapman

Watsuki Harrington

Tara Masih

Robin OIivera

Alina Pleskova

Zalisa Rabin

Trisha Rodriguez

C. J. Spataro

Wendy Stetson

Chelsea Stickle

Julia Strayer

Girija Tripp

Fifty-two writers responded in exactly 100 words to the fine art photography of Meg Boscov to create an anthology of healing visions.

An Anthology of Micro Writing and Fine Art Photography

Healing Visions

Ben Okri

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Pippa Goldschmidt

Food can bring together families, communities, and cultures. It is the essence of life and yet our relationships with one another can be most fraught at the dinner table. This perpetually fascinating subject has inspired a unique collection of fiction—including flash fiction, essay, short stories, and even a "stoku" (amalgam of short story and haiku)—from a wonderfully diverse and international group of authors. The authors in the anthology include Elaine Chiew, Chitra Banarjee Divakaruni, Rachel J. Fenton, Diana Ferraro, Vanessa Gebbie, Pippa Goldschmidt, Sue Guiney, Patrick J. Holland, Roy Kesey, Charles Lambert, Krys Lee, Stefani Nellen, Mukoma Wa Ngugi, Ben Okri, Angie Pelekidis, Susannah Rickards, and Nikesh Shukla. Elaine Chiew is a London-based writer who has won several prizes for her short stories and flash fiction. She was included in One World: A Global Anthology of Short Stories. Many of her stories revolve around food. Chitra Banarjee Divakaruni is an award-winning author, poet, activist, and teacher of writing. She has been published in many magazines and her writing has been included in over fifty anthologies. Ben Okri has published eight novels, including The Famished Road and Starbook, as well as collections of poetry, short stories, and essays. He has won numerous international prizes. Pippa Goldschmidt writes long and short fiction, poetry and nonfiction. Her PhD in astronomy inspired her first novel The Falling Sky, about a female astronomer who discovers the Universe and loses her mind.

Food Fiction from Around the World

Cooked Up

The Light Between Us is a Southeast Asian historical romance that defies time and space as an archivist explores Singapore’s tumultuous past through a supernatural connection.

At work one night, photography archivist Charlie Sze-Toh receives a misdirected letter from Wang Tian Wei, a 1920s colonial era Chinese photographer. Through a mysterious digital folder and photographic plates, a conversation is sparked, leading to a romance that spans lifetimes.

In his time, Tian Wei scours a turbulent Singapore for his missing friend, Aiko, leading him to the perfumed chambers of a Japanese brothel. Meanwhile, in the modern day, Charlie struggles against a family dynamic dominated by her stepmother, a manipulative matriarch who uses family secrets as bargaining chips. Communication starts to become difficult and Tian Wei’s letters are tinged by the increasing threat of Japanese Occupation. Will one last fate-defying letter from Charlie allow Tian Wei to keep their love alive?

Inspired by her research into Singaporean historical archives, Elaine Chiew weaves Chinese mythology and early 20th century colonial Singapore into this speculative epic.

The Light Between Us

Set in different cities around the world, Elaine Chiew’s award-winning stories travel into the heart of the Singaporean and Malaysian Chinese diasporas to explore the lives of those torn between cultures and juggling divided selves. In the title story, four writers find their cultural bonds of friendship tested when a handsome young Asian writer joins their group. In other stories, a brother searches for his sister forced to serve as a comfort woman during World War Two; three Singaporean sisters run a French gourmet restaurant in New York; a woman raps about being a Tiger Mother in Belgravia; and a filmmaker struggles to document the lives of samsui women—Singapore’s thrifty, hardworking construction workers. > Acutely observed, wry and playful, her stories are as worldly and emotionally resonant as the characters themselves. This fabulous debut collection heralds an exciting new literary voice.

and other stories

The Heartsick Diaspora

Elaine Chiew

Books

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