Samantha Chong
Samantha Chong is a Malaysian fiction writer, and her debut YA fantasy novel, PRODIGAL TIGER, published with Putnam Young Readers in March 2026. Originally from Penang, Malaysia, she knits her multilingual and diverse backgrounds into every story she weaves. Her work interrogates what it means to belong, whether that’s tied to places, people, or the myriad of ways that someone carves out their space in an increasingly shifting world. Her second novel, PAPER GHOSTS, will publish with Putnam Young Readers in 2028.
When she’s not writing fiction, Samantha is experimenting with different storytelling mediums. Her non-fiction work has been published across text and video formats in BBC Travel, Gastro Obscura, OpenTable, and the Guggenheim’s website.
If she’s not at her desk writing, Samantha is often out cooing over cats, attempting to eat her way through any given city, and falling down Wikipedia rabbit holes.
Christopher Chu
Originally from the United States, Macao-based Christopher spent over a decade in Hong Kong, working as an investment analyst and financial journalist. He holds a Master of Philosophy from Cambridge University and a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematical Economics and Psychology from Pitzer College.
Christopher is currently the editor for The Bay, a lifestyle English-language, day-to-play news and lifestyle guide to China’s Greater Bay Area. With his wife Maggie Hoi, Christopher co-authored “Macau’s Historical Witnesses,” “Camilo Pessanha’s Macau Stories,” and “Macau’s Historical Flavors,” all of which explore Macao’s unique history from various perspectives, such as why Macao is also spelled Macau.
Olivier Hein
A former diplomat with the UN, the OSCE and the UK, Olivier Hein undertook postings in Kosovo, Turkmenistan, the USA and France, before becoming a historical writer. 'Star and Key' is his exploration of the exciting history of Mauritius since prehistory until the present day. He has also written 'Borneo: The History of an Enigma', capturing the fascinating but little-known story of that huge and mysterious island; and 'Mother of the World: The Remarkable History of Turkmenistan', uncovering that nation’s quiet centrality to world history over the years. His forthcoming book, 'Glory, Faith and Sorrow', out in November 2026, will capture the epic history of Peru.
Oli is also a well-known bilingual voiceover artist. He lives in the Cotswolds, UK, with his wife and 2 children.
Wiley Wei-Chiun Ho
Wiley Wei-Chiun Ho (she/her) is the author of THE ASTRONAUT CHILDREN OF DUNBAR STREET – A MEMOIR (Douglas & McIntyre, 2026). Born in Taiwan, she moved to Canada when she was nine. Identifying as Generation 1.5, Wiley’s writing explores the liminal spaces between geographies, languages, cultures, and identities. Her award-winning stories have appeared in the literary journals PRISM INTERNATIONAL, RICEPAPER, RIVER TEETH, ROOM, WORDWORKS, and several anthologies. A member of the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop and a champion for creative communities, she devotes time with the Federation of BC Writers, North Shore Writers’ Association, LiterASIAN, Word Vancouver, and Vancouver Writers Festival.
Maggie Pui Man Hoi
Maggie Hoi is an Associate Professor in the Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences (ICMS) at the University of Macau (UM). She received her BSc in Pharmacology from University College London (UCL) and earned her Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on the pharmacology of natural herbal products to promote health.
Outside the lab, Maggie enjoys exploring her hometown’s rich heritage. She often shares with her friends how centuries-old buildings are fully integrated into the city today, which she feels is one of Macao’s most unique characteristics.
Tuan Phan
Tuan Phan is a Vietnamese American writer and teacher of literature who currently resides in Taiwan. His writing is shaped by a life lived between Vietnam, the United States, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and elsewhere. His memoir, “Remembering Water”, was published by Hidden River Arts in 2023. It traces his family’s departure from Vietnam as Vietnamese Boat People refugees and their returns years later. His short story collection, “Gills: And Other Stories”, published by Texas Tech University Press in collaboration with DVAN, the Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network, was released in May 2026. Set almost entirely in Saigon, the collection follows lives shaped by a rapidly changing city, where memory, migration, history, and transformation converge in the persistent struggle to survive, adapt, and find room to breathe.
Gaea Schoeters
Gaea Schoeters is a Belgian author, (screen)writer and librettist. Her work is situated between formal experiment and social engagement, and she has a fondness for dialogue with the canon. Her latest novels Trophy and The Gift, both bestsellers in Germany, were shortlisted for various prizes. Her work is translated in more than 20 languages.
Together with composer Annelies Van Parys she created the operas Private View, Usher and Notwehr and many other music theatre pieces. Their work has been performed at leading venues and festivals allover Europe. With illustrator Gerda Dendooven she made Nothing, a philosophical children’s book, and she translated Kae Tempest to Dutch.
Gaea is a much sought-after columnist and essayist and regularly gives masterclasses on writing (for opera). She’s also a keen performer and the curator & host of the Dead Ladies Show, a café chantant that spotlights forgotten women and female composers.
Sam Sussman
Sam Sussman is the author of the novel Boy From the North Country, a three-time USA Today bestseller and finalist for the National Jewish Book Awards in Fiction. Boy From the North Country was hailed by Kirkus as “the most beautiful and moving mother-son story in recent memory” and named by Oprah as the best debut novel of Fall 2025. Sussman previously won the BAFTA New Writing Award for Original Screenplay. He holds a B.A. from Swarthmore College and an M.Phil from Oxford, where he wrote a dissertation on Rousseau. Sussman has written for Harper’s, The Washington Post, and been profiled in the New York Times. He has lived in Berlin and London, taught writing and literature in the U.K, India, and Chile, and participated in the PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature three times. Sussman lives in Manhattan and his native Hudson Valley. Boy From the North Country is published by Penguin Press in the U.S. and Grove Press in the U.K. and is forthcoming with BtB in German and Siruela in Spanish.
Janet Tay
Janet Tay is the author of Early Mornings at the Laksa Cafe and the forthcoming Late Nights at the Donabe Diner. Janet is a Tin House Winter Workshop alum, and her short stories and journalistic pieces on literature, food and parenting have appeared in various collections and magazines. The first act of her full-length play Reunion was longlisted for The Windsor Fringe Kenneth Branagh Award for New Drama Writing. She lives in Kuala Lumpur with her husband and son.
Martin Vengadesan
Martin Vengadesan is a Malaysian journalist, author, musician and political advisor. He served nearly 30 years as a journalist, working as news editor at The Star and associate editor at news portal Malaysiakini. He then moved to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, simultaneously taking up a strategic communications role with Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil.
He has written four books and recorded six albums. He was also a trade union leader as part of the National Union of Journalists and founding member of Malaysia’s ruling party Parti Keadilan Rakyat.
His books cover a wide range of non-fiction topics including musicology, reformist politics and true crime. His best-selling book Malaysian Murders & Mysteries was co-written with crime reporter Andrew Sagayam. His fiction works include absurdist dystopian science fiction and an upcoming comedy novel.
Xu Xi 許素細
XU XI 許素細, an Indonesian-Chinese-American from Hong Kong, has published sixteen books— five novels, nine prose collections, one memoir, one co-authored textbook —and also edited four anthologies of English Hong Kong literature. Her newest title, HORIZON HONG KONG: SELECTED STORIES will be released July 2026 by Gaudy Boy, New York. She held the Jenks Chair in Contemporary Letters at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, was writer-in-residence at Arizona State University, City University of Hong Kong, University of Iowa, and directed two international MFA’s in creative writing and literary translation. Previously, she worked in marketing and management in the U.S. and Asia at The Asian Wall Street Journal, Federal Express, a Wall Street law firm, Pinkerton’s and Cathay Pacific Airways. A diehard transnational, she now lives between New York and the rest of the world.