Meet the Participants
George Town Literary Festival brings together writers, poets, translators, and artists from Malaysia, the region, and beyond, reflecting the festival’s spirit of exchange and discovery.
Further names will be announced in the coming weeks.
Ahmed Masoud
Palestine/UK
Ahmed Masoud is an award-winning Palestinian author based in the UK. His first novel, Vanished—The Mysterious Disappearance of Mustafa Ouda, received critical acclaim and has been translated into several languages. He is also a playwright whose work has been praised by leading UK theatre critics, including in The Guardian.
His participation is enabled by the Hashim Sani Centre for Palestine Studies and Aliran.
Amir Muhammad
Malaysia
Amir Muhammad is a Malaysian book publisher and filmmaker. He is the founder of Buku Fixi, which has published around 300 titles since 2011, and Kuman Pictures, which has produced feature films and documentaries since 2019, including the award-winning Roh and Malaysia’s first crowdfunded feature, Pendatang.
Anthony Tao
US
Anthony Tao is the author of the full-length poetry collection We Met in Beijing (2024). His poems have appeared in journals such as Prairie Schooner, Borderlands, Frontier, Mekong Review, and Asian Cha. His poem “Coronavirus in China,” published in Rattle (February 2020), was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Based in Beijing, he previously coordinated the Bookworm International Literary Festival, and currently runs the literary collective Spittoon and hosts its monthly Poetry Night. He is also the co-founder of the band Poetry x Music.
Beh May Ting
Malaysia
Dr Beh May Ting is an urban anthropologist with a passion for cities and cultural landscapes. She holds a PhD from Monash University and an MA in Asian Studies from Universiti Sains Malaysia. Before joining Penang Institute, she taught at Monash University Malaysia. Her current research explores creative cities, social infrastructure, and the cost of living. She also hosts Spill The Teh, Penang Institute’s podcast, and frequently moderates at state-level events such as the Penang Economic Forum, George Town Festival, Bel Retiro Roundtables, and Penang Hill Festival.
Bernice Chauly
Malaysia
Bernice Chauly is an award-winning Malaysian writer, poet, and multidisciplinary artist whose work spans literature, film, and performance. She is the author of seven books, including the novel Once We Were There and the memoir Growing Up With Ghosts. Over the past five years, she has worked as a writer and world-builder in Sweden’s AAA games industry, crafting storyworlds rooted in Southeast Asian mythologies. A long-time advocate for freedom of expression, she founded the KL Writers Workshop and Readings, co-founded PEN Malaysia, and directed the George Town Literary Festival (2011–2018), which won the London Book Fair’s International Excellence Award.
Bitan Chakraborty
India
Bitan Chakraborty is a storyteller, publisher, and editor. He has authored seven books of fiction and prose, translated two poetry collections, and edited a volume of essays. His English-language collections include Bougainvillea and Other Stories, The Mark, Redundant, and The Blight and Seven Short Stories. Founder of Hawakal Publishers, he is regarded as a leading voice for Indian poetry in English. When not writing or editing, he pursues photography and has completed a masterclass with Raghu Rai. He lives in New Delhi.
Cyntha Hariadi
Indonesia
Cyntha Hariadi is an Indonesian writer based in Jakarta and Bali. After careers in journalism, advertising, and other creative industries, she focused on poetry and prose following the birth of her child. Her books include Ibu Mendulang Anak Berlari (2016), the prose collection Manifesto Flora, Mimi Lemon, and the all-ages fantasy novel Kokokan Mencari Arumbawangi. CICA (2024) is her latest poetry collection. Her work explores womanhood, identity, and the natural world within Indonesia’s shifting political climate. She is currently working on a travel memoir and a film script.
Her participation is enabled by the Tim Promosi Sastra dari Kementrian Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia.
Dipika Mukherjee
US
Dipika Mukherjee is the author of eight books, most recently the essay collection Writers’ Postcards. Her novels include Shambala Junction and Ode to Broken Things, and her story collection is Rules of Desire. Her work has been translated into nine languages, and she received an Esteemed Artist Award from the City of Chicago. She has mentored Southeast Asian writing for over two decades; in 2015 she founded the Dutt Award for Literary Excellence, and has since edited five anthologies of Malaysian stories. She holds a PhD in English, teaches at the University of Chicago’s Graham School, serves as Literary Life Ambassador for the Chicago Poetry Center, and sits on the board of the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame.
Edmund Terence Gomez
Malaysia
Edmund Terence Gomez is professor emeritus of political economy at the Faculty of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaya. He has held appointments at the University of Leeds (England) and Murdoch University (Australia), and served as visiting professor at Kobe University (Japan), the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), and the University of California, San Diego (United States). Between 2005 and 2008, he was research coordinator at the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) in Switzerland.
His publications include Malaysia’s Political Economy: Politics, Patronage and Profits, Political Business in East Asia, Minister of Finance Incorporated: Ownership and Control of Corporate Malaysia, China in Malaysia: State–Business Relations and the New Order of Investment Flows, and Misgovernance: Grand Corruption in Malaysia.
Gareth Richards
UK
Gareth Richards is a writer, editor, and bookseller. He is the director of Impress Creative and Editorial, the owner of Gerakbudaya Bookshop (Penang), and co-founder of the arts space Hikayat. He is the co-author/editor of Asia–Europe Interregionalism: Critical Perspectives (1999) and Discourses, Agency and Identity in Malaysia (2021), and wrote the texts for the photography books Portraits of Penang: Little India (2011) and Panicrama (2016), alongside numerous articles on art, film, dance, literature, and music.
Helen Mort
UK
Helen Mort is a poet who also writes fiction and non-fiction. Her poetry is published by Chatto & Windus. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and professor of creative writing at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Her participation is enabled by the British Council.
Hou Chi-jan
Taiwan
Hou Chi-jan, born in Taipei, is known for a lyrical visual style and a keen sense of time. His films span fantasy, romance, and queer themes. His debut feature, One Day, premiered at the Berlinale (2010); subsequent works have screened at Tokyo, Rotterdam, and Venice. He has won awards at the Taipei Film Festival and the Fantasia International Film Festival (Montreal). Since 2013, he has led the documentary project Poetries from the Bookstores, documenting more than 120 independent bookstores in Taiwan.
His participation is enabled by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia.
Irene Ng
Singapore
Irene Ng is the Penang-born, bestselling author of the two-volume biography of S. Rajaratnam: The Singapore Lion and The Lion’s Roar. Her anthology The Short Stories and Radio Plays of S. Rajaratnam highlights his position as the first Malayan writer in English of international standing in the 1940s. A former award-winning journalist with The Straits Times and a former Singapore Member of Parliament, she is a sought-after speaker and has recently appeared at the Singapore International Festival of the Arts and on Channel NewsAsia’s Separation: Declassified. She has also presented for the BBC. She is based in Scotland.
Iylia de Silva
Malaysia
Iylia holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of London. In addition to managing publicity for Penang Monthly, she writes on themes related to Chinese culture, guided by her personal interests. She embraces a balanced life, integrating work, living, and travel.
James P. S. Boyle
Malaysia
James P. S. Boyle is an award-winning music director and dean of the Faculty of Music at ASWARA. A graduate of Berklee College of Music and Universiti Malaya, he holds a PhD in musicology and a master’s degree in performing arts. His expertise includes contemporary piano performance, aural training, composition, improvisation and songwriting. A pianist, bandleader and active composer for stage and corporate projects, he has performed at jazz festivals across Asia and is also trained as a film director and line producer.
Jin Young Lim
Malaysia
Jin Young Lim is the author of The Dao of Flow, a book that integrates Eastern philosophy, interdisciplinary exploration, and storytelling. He is pursuing a PhD in East Asian studies at UC Santa Barbara, and co-founded the Spawo Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to holistic education, sustainability, wellness, and culture in the Himalayas. Born and raised in Penang, he studied at Waseda University and Peking University, earned a master’s degree at Tsinghua University as a Schwarzman Scholar, and worked at the Berggruen Institute’s China Center. He also leads Himalayan expeditions and is a Taijiquan instructor, mindfulness teacher, Pu’er tea enthusiast, and content creator.
Joe Freeman
US
Joe Freeman is an American writer and researcher who has worked across Southeast Asia for more than a decade, reporting from Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and the Philippines. He has worked for Agence France-Presse, Vice World News, and Amnesty International, and has written for The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press, Foreign Policy, and Mekong Review. He has covered Myanmar’s democratic transition since 2015, the Rohingya crisis, and the 2021 coup. He is based in Bangkok.
Kam Raslan
Malaysia
Kam Raslan is a writer and radio broadcaster. His novels include Confessions of an Old Boy and Malayan Spy, set in Malaya, England, and Berlin in 1953. He hosts two shows on BFM Radio, “A Bit of Culture,” and “Just For Kicks.”
Karina Robles Bahrin
Malaysia
Karina Robles Bahrin’s debut novel The Accidental Malay won the Epigram Books Fiction Prize in 2022. She lives and works in Langkawi.
Kiriti Sengupta
India
Kiriti Sengupta—recipient of the 2018 Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize, and the 2024 Nilim Kumar National Honour—has published fourteen books of poetry and prose, two translation volumes, and nine edited anthologies. His work has appeared in The Common, The Florida Review Online, Headway Quarterly, The Lake, Amethyst Review, Dreich, Otoliths, Outlook, and Madras Courier. He serves as chief editor of Ethos Literary Journal and leads the English division at Hawakal Publishers Private Limited. He lives in New Delhi.
Leong Yoke Mee
Malaysia
Leong Yoke Mee (Ammi) is a Malaysian picture-book illustrator and conservation storyteller based in Bukit Mertajam, Penang. Her work blends field research, environmental engagement, and visual narrative to tell meaningful stories for children and communities. Collaborating with NGOs, local communities, and scientists, she has created acclaimed picture books exploring human–nature relationships that are widely used in education and outreach. She received an honourable recognition in the Yusof Gajah Illustration Award (2023), and won first prize at the Yusof Gajah Illustration Award (2024).
Lize Spit
Belgium
Lize Spit grew up in Kempen, near Antwerp, and has lived in Brussels since 2005. She holds a master’s degree in screenwriting. Her debut novel, The Melting (2016), sold more than 215,000 copies, was translated into fifteen languages, won multiple prizes, and was adapted for film. Her second novel, I Am Not There (2020), was followed by the Dutch National Book Week gift The Honest Finder (2023; 550,000-copy print run). Her most recent book is Autobiography of My Body, with German and French editions forthcoming. She teaches creative writing at LUCA School of Arts and RITCS.
Her participation is enabled by the Embassy of Belgium in Malaysia, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Malaysia, and Flanders Literature.
Madeleine Thien
Canada
Madeleine Thien is the author of the story collection Simple Recipes (2001) and four novels: Certainty (2006), Dogs at the Perimeter (2011), Do Not Say We Have Nothing (2016), and The Book of Records (2025). Do Not Say We Have Nothing was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and the Folio Prize, and won the Governor-General’s Literary Award for Fiction, among other honours. Her work has been translated into twenty-five languages, and her stories and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, Times Literary Supplement, and The New York Review of Books. Born in Vancouver, she lives in Montreal and teaches part-time at Brooklyn College, CUNY.
Her participation is enabled by the High Commission of Canada in Malaysia.
Malachi Edwin Vethamani
Malaysia
Malachi Edwin Vethamani is a poet, writer, editor, critic, bibliographer, and emeritus professor at the University of Nottingham. His publications include Have I Got Something to Tell You (Penguin SEA, 2024), Rambutan Kisses (2022), The Seven O’clock Tree (2022), Love and Loss (2022), Coitus Interruptus and Other Stories (2018), Life Happens (2017), and Complicated Lives (2016). He has edited multiple anthologies of Malaysian and international poetry and short stories. His latest publications are Hibiscus and Plum Blossoms: Contemporary Malaysian and Taiwanese Poems (2025), and Contours of Him (2025).
Ng Yi-Sheng
Singapore
Ng Yi-Sheng is a Singaporean fictionist, poet, playwright, researcher, and activist with a keen interest in Southeast Asian history and myth. His books include the bestselling historical-fantasy novel Utama (shortlisted for the Epigram Books Fiction Prize), the children’s history book Twisted Temasek, and the short-story collection Lion City (winner of the Singapore Literature Prize). He also edited A Mosque in the Jungle: Classic Ghost Stories by Othman Wok. His speculative work has appeared in Clarkesworld, Speculative Insight, and Strange Horizons. He has organised IndigNation: Singapore’s Pride Season and the Southeast Asian Queer Cultural Festival.
Nur Masalha
Palestine/UK
Nur Masalha is a Palestinian historian and academic. Formerly professor of religion and politics and director of the Centre for Religion and History and the Holy Land Research Project at St Mary’s University, London, he is currently affiliated with the Centre for Palestine Studies at SOAS, University of London. He is editor of the Journal of Holy Land and Palestine Studies (Edinburgh University Press), and the author of numerous books, including Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History (2018), and Palestine Across Millennia: A History of Literacy, Learning and Educational Revolutions (2022).
His participation is enabled by the Hashim Sani Centre for Palestine Studies and Aliran.
Omar Musa
Australia
Omar Musa is a Sabahan-Australian author, visual artist, and poet. He has written two novels, three poetry books—including the woodcut-and-poetry volume Killernova—and five hip-hop records. With cellist Mariel Roberts Musa, he has written two acclaimed plays, Since Ali Died and The Offering (A Plastic Ocean Oratorio). His work has appeared in The Best Australian Stories and Best of Australian Poems. His debut novel, Here Come the Dogs, was longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award and the Miles Franklin Award, and in 2015, he was named one of the Sydney Morning Herald’s Young Novelists of the Year. His new novel, Fierceland, is out now with Penguin SEA.
Ooi Kee Beng
Sweden
Dato’ Dr Ooi Kee Beng is executive director of Penang Institute (2017–present), and serves on the Penang2030 Advisory Committee, as well as the boards of Digital Penang, St Xavier’s Institution, and Prince of Wales Island International School (POWIIS). He began his think tank career in 2004 at Singapore’s ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute, where he was deputy director from 2011 to 2017, and remains a senior visiting fellow. He is the festival director of the George Town Literary Festival (GTLF), held every November in Penang, and is founder-editor of ISEAS Perspective, Trends in Southeast Asia, Penang Monthly, and ISSUES Policy Briefs. He is also a columnist for The Edge Malaysia. His notable publications include The Eurasian Core and Its Edges: Dialogues with Wang Gungwu on the History of the World, In Lieu of Ideology: An Intellectual Biography of Goh Keng Swee, the award-winning The Reluctant Politician: The Life and Times of Tun Dr Ismail, As Empires Fell: The Life and Times of H.S. Lee, and Lim Kit Siang: The Right to Differ.
Patricia Lim
Malaysia
For Patricia Lim Pui Huen, writing the biography of her late husband, Lim Kee Jin: Doctor and Mentor, brought back many happy memories of his life and career, and of reconnecting with family and friends. In a more personal way, it reminded her of the days when, newly married, she came to live in Penang. Though later posted by the Ministry of Health to Johor, Penang has always held a special place in her heart.
After retiring from a career in librarianship and research, she discovered the joys of writing. Beginning with the biography of her great-grandfather, she continues to find inspiration in how biography captures the varying impulses of people’s lives and their enduring connections to the past.
paul catafago
Palestine and Lebanon in the Diaspora
Paul Catafago is a Palestinian-Lebanese writer from Queens, New York City. A long-time spoken-word poet, he is the author of Sumud: Poems of the Palestinian Diaspora (Sligo Creek, 2024), Un Poema Es Un Cuchillo (Colección Playa Sucia, 2025), and The Palestinian Freedom Now Suite (The Bodily Press, 2025). He has participated in international poetry festivals, including the 14th International Poetry Festival of Puerto Rico (March 2025), and will appear at Armada Libertad in El Salvador and the George Town Literary Festival in Malaysia. He lives in New Orleans, where he has performed with jazz musicians and produced documentaries about elder musicians.
His participation is enabled by the Hashim Sani Centre for Palestine Studies and Aliran.
Ramayda Akmal
Indonesia
Ramayda Akmal completed her doctoral degree at the Asien-Afrika-Institut, Universität Hamburg. Her novel Jatisaba won the 2010 Jakarta Arts Council Novel Writing Competition; her second novel, Tango & Sadimin, was runner-up in the 2017 UNNES International Novel Writing Contest; and her latest work, Aliansi Monyet Putih, was published in 2022. She has written several academic books, including Pahlawan dan Pecundang, Militer dalam Novel-Novel Indonesia (2014), Melawan Takdir, Subjektivitas Pramoedya Ananta Toer dalam Novel Perburuan (2015), and Naratologi Klasik: Teori dan Aplikasi (with Faruk, 2025). Ramayda is a lecturer at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Gadjah Mada University.
Her participation is enabled by the Tim Promosi Sastra dari Kementrian Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia.
Ratih Kumala
Indonesia
Ratih Kumala is an Indonesian novelist and screenwriter whose career began in 2001. Her debut novel, Tabula Rasa (2004), won the 2003 Jakarta Arts Council Novel Competition. She has since authored eight works of fiction and writes for film, series, and digital media. She adapted her acclaimed novel Gadis Kretek (Cigarette Girl) for Netflix (2023); the series won at the Seoul Drama Awards (2024). Her work has been translated into German, English, Arabic, Thai, Filipino, and Malay, with a Korean edition forthcoming. Her latest novel is Koloni (2025). She lives in Jakarta.
Her participation is enabled by the Tim Promosi Sastra dari Kementrian Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia.
Reggie Baay
Netherlands
Reggie Baay (The Netherlands) is a writer, historian, and independent researcher. Of Indonesian–Dutch descent, his work focuses on Dutch colonial history in Indonesia and its lasting impact on contemporary generations. His writing is highly regarded in both the Netherlands and Indonesia—particularly The Nyai: Concubinage in the Dutch East Indies (2008), which tells the story of the forgotten indigenous women who became the first mothers of the Eurasian population, and Something Horrible Took Place Over There (2015), which examines the largely unknown history of colonial slavery in the Dutch East Indies. His novels, including The Child with the Japanese Eyes (2018), have been nominated for several literary prizes. As a researcher, Baay has contributed to major exhibitions on the Dutch colonial past at leading museums.
Rueben Dass
Singapore
Rueben Dass is a Malaysian author of two novels—The Number Four (MPH, 2022), and Skin (Penguin Random House SEA, 2025). His short stories, poetry, and screenplays have appeared on platforms such as Anak Sastra and Men Matters Online Journal. His screenplay Mayat was shortlisted in the Top 10 of the 3rd Kuman Pictures Screenwriting Contest. He has lived in Kuala Lumpur and London, and is based in Singapore, where he works as an academic and researcher at Nanyang Technological University. He has also published more than sixty analyses on international security and foreign affairs in various media outlets.
Sharaad Kuttan
Malaysia
Sharaad Kuttan is a journalist who has worked in both print and broadcast media, and currently co-hosts the evening drive-time show on BFM 89.9. He holds a postgraduate degree in sociology from the National University of Singapore. He is co-editor of the essay collection Looking at Culture, and contributed a chapter to Elections and Democracy in Malaysia, a scholarly study of the Malaysian electoral system. In 2006, he was awarded the Nippon Foundation’s Asian Public Intellectual fellowship, spending a year in the Philippines and Thailand. He served as co-director of the George Town Literary Festival in 2019 and 2020 with Pauline Fan.
Sharon Joyce Bakar
UK
Sharon Bakar’s articles, reviews, fiction, and poetry have appeared in numerous Malaysian publications. She has judged several writing competitions, including the Dutt Memorial Prize for Literary Excellence. She organises Readings, a monthly event for local writers in Bangsar, and has edited three anthologies featuring contributors to the series. With Dipika Mukherjee, she has edited and published three collections that grew out of the Dutt Prize. She teaches creative writing at the University of Nottingham Malaysia and also runs courses for small groups online.
Shivram Gopinath
India
Shivram Gopinath is a two-time Singapore National Poetry Slam champion whose work bridges the immediacy of performance and the enduring resonance of the written word. His poems trace the cadences of speech and the silences between them, exploring identity, memory, and the shifting landscapes of contemporary Singapore. He has performed widely across the region, where his presence on stage is marked by both energy and intimacy, bringing audiences into the heart of his stories. His debut collection, Dey (Ethos Books, 2025), carries these concerns onto the page, weaving together the rhythms of spoken word with the reflective depth of lyric poetry.
Tan Sooi Beng
Malaysia
Tan Sooi Beng is an honorary professor of ethnomusicology at the School of Arts, Universiti Sains Malaysia. She is the author of Bangsawan: A Social and Stylistic History of Popular Malay Opera (Oxford University Press, 1993), and co-author of Music of Malaysia: Classical, Folk and Syncretic Traditions (Ashgate, 2004), and Longing for the Past: The 78 RPM Era in Southeast Asia (Dust-to-Digital, 2013), which won the SEM Joint Prize for Historical Research. An exponent of engaged theatre, she combines music, dance, and drama to educate young people and revitalise traditions among Penang’s multiethnic communities, advocating collaboration between tradition bearers and academics.
Tunku Halim
Malaysia
Tunku Halim was born in Petaling Jaya and grew up in KL. He has lived in various countries including the UK, Australia, the Phillipines and Thailand.
He has written 6 collections of short stories, 5 novels, a children’s trilogy and several non-fiction books. By delving into Malay myth, legends and folklore, his writing is often regarded as ‘World Gothic’.
His latest collection of short stories, My Lovely Skull and Other Skeletons, which came out in 2022, was written in Penang and is mostly inspired by his wanderings about the island.
Since moving to Penang he has taken up Tai Chi Chuan and has learnt how to say “What would you like to eat?” in Hokkien.
Lim Wan Phing
Malaysia
Wan Phing Lim was born to Malaysian parents in 1986 in Butterworth, Penang. She lives in Penang and is the fiction editor of NutMag zine.
She has two short story collections, ‘Two Figures in a Car’ (2021) and ‘Adorable’ (2025) published by Penguin Random House Southeast Asia.
Wilfried N'Sondé
France
Wilfried N’Sondé is a French writer born in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo. After twenty-five years in Berlin, he now lives in Lyon. He is the author of ten novels published by Actes Sud and Robert Laffont, and has received seventeen literary awards, including the Prix des Cinq Continents de la Francophonie and the Prix Senghor de la Création Littéraire. English translations include The Heart of the Leopard Children, Concrete Flower, and The Silence of the Spirits (Indiana University Press).
His participation is enabled by the Embassy of France in Kuala Lumpur.
William Tham
Malaysia
William Tham is a novelist with a background in English from Universiti Malaya. His work has appeared in PR&TA, NANG, and The Best of World SF: Volume 2, among others. He previously served as senior editor of Ricepaper magazine, was an editor-at-large for Wasafiri, and co-edited The Second Link: A Malaysia–Singapore Literary Anthology (2023). He has been writer-in-residence at Rimbun Dahan. Beyond fiction, he co-edited A Malaysian Ecocriticism Reader (Palgrave Macmillan) and has written for Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, eTropic, and the Southeast Asian Review of English.
Yang Shuang-zi
Taiwan
Yang Shuang-zi is a Taiwanese author of fiction, essays, manga scripts, and criticism. Her work often explores Taiwan’s history, food culture, and relationships between women. Named a Rising Star by Wenshun and listed among Unitas’s Top 20 Novelists, she became the youngest nominee for the United Daily News Literary Award. Her acclaimed novel Taiwan Travelogue earned Taiwan’s Golden Tripod Award, and in translation, Japan’s Best Translation Award, and the 75th National Book Award for Translated Literature in the United States.
Her participation is enabled by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia.