Arid Dreams, the much-anticipated collection by Duanwad Pinwana, is, remarkably, (outside of academia), her first time being published in English internationally. That is, along with her novel Bright – released at the same time as this collection. After reading these stories, I’m so grateful to Mui Poopoksakul for translating so elegantly and beautifully, and for …
Books to Read Before You Visit Thailand Thailand is a nation with an incredibly rich and splendid history. A free nation which has tied the way of life that is Buddhism into its very culture, food, and traditions. There’s a reason so many of us crave Thailand holidays more than any others in South East …
Sergius and Bacchus were fourth-century Roman soldiers. In secret, they were also Christians. They would pray in isolation but were eventually found out and executed for their faith. Parallels between their secrecy and that of so many queer communities across the globe has turned them into something of a symbol for queer visibility. Now, in …
As a student, I remember having a conversation with my friend in which he complained that Thomas Hardy spent three pages describing a field as if such an act were self-evidently inherently wrong. I waited for further elaboration. Was there something lacking from said description? Maybe he found Hardy’s prose to be weighty and clunky? …
Through Ponti, we learn that one universal truth about love – paternal, romantic, platonic – is that it doesn’t ebb and flow. It falters, judders, gets lost and thrown out. It gets exposed and embarrassed, like a child. It is bled dry and shrivelled like fruit. We also learn that people can be a bit …
All eyes are trained on Indonesia right now. Its tourism is flourishing more than ever; foreigners from the West are flooding there to work and live cheaply and healthily (for better or worse), and its art scene is finally being celebrated the world over. Some of the biggest names in poetry, prose, and essays all …
Before you set out exploring or backpacking Southeast Asia, there are some incredible books for you to discover which can light your way and make your journey even more exciting, fascinating, and possibly life-changing. After all, if you’re backpacking Southeast Asia, you want all the enrichment you can get. And we guarantee you’ll find that …
Back in summer 2017, I had the pleasure and privilege of travelling through Colombia for two months. Over the past two decades, the nation has steadily increased in popularity as a tourist destination despite the wild and fearsome image much of the world still has of it. Whilst hardly what you’d call a safe haven, …
Indonesia’s Eka Kurniawan has been garnering attention with his second novel Man Tiger. Although fairly slim, on paper Man Tiger almost begs to be labelled a work of magical realism; a generational tale set in an unnamed town in the tropics teeming with lusts and dreams, violence and loss, spirits and folklore. “The tigress had …
