Banana Writers
- Where Asian writers get unpeeled -
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Editor-in-Chief:www.ppwongauthor.com
Poetry Corner
Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric; out of the quarrel with ourselves we make poetry.
W.B. Yeats
Put on the kettle
Curl up in bed
Click on the poet
Enjoy
Alvin Pang’s award winning poems have been translated into over fifteen language and featured in publications such as The Wolf (UK), English Review (UK), Salt (Australia), Paper Tiger (Australia), Australian Poetry Journal and Washington Square Review (USA).
In 2005, he was Singapore’s Young Artist of the Year for Literature. Through his passion for encouraging new writers, he created The Literary Centre (Singapore), a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to literary development and positive social change. His publications include City of Rain (2003), Over There: Poems from Singapore and Australia (co-edited with John Kinsella, 2008) and Tumasik: Contemporary Writing from Singapore (USA, 2009).
His latest book is When the Barbarians Arrive, a volume of new and selected poems, published by Arc (UK).
Born in London and based in Singapore for the last twenty-one years, Suet Tan, a chartered accountant, began writing plays after a playwriting workshop in 2001.
Since then she has written nine plays including Sperm, performed by Magdalena (Singapore) at the OCBC Singapore Theatre Festival, and Shopping with Ang performed by Yellow Earth Theatre (YET) in London. She hopes to stage her newest play A Second Life in both London and Singapore in 2014.
Glen Yumang Manese was born in the Philippines and migrated to the USA when he was six years old.
The ex U.S marine is currently working on his first book of verses.
The Onyx - Vena Amoris which will be published by Friesen Press in late October. This book is dedicated to his late mother, Eusebia Yumang Manese.
Ka Man Mak is a British born Hong Kong Chinese, born and bred in Bristol, and is now residing in Oslo with her daughter.
One of her favourite quotes is, ‘To want to understand is an attempt to recapture something we have lost.’- Peter Høeg. She believes writing does just that. To write is a way of understanding our own emotions and the world around us.
A British Born Chinese, Yang-Fan Zhou is a first year Chemical Engineering student at Cambridge University.
As the British Under 21 Chess Champion (and formerly 6th in the World Under 18 Chess Championships) he is well known for his logical mind, and problem solving abilities. However, Yang-Fan also has a flair for writing to record his memorable experiences.
He is also a romantic poet at heart...
Born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Deborah Wong is of second generation Malaysian-Chinese descent. A law graduate from the University of London, she attended creative writing courses at the University of British Columbia. Her poems have been published locally and internationally; and recently accepted by Mad Swirl, Eastlit, Vox Poetica and The Tower Journal. She's also working on her first novel, while seeking publication for her first full-length poetry book. She tweets often at @PetiteDeborah
Lucy is the only transracial Hong-Kong adoptee who writes and performs.
"I’m made in Hong Kong, exported to the UK as a transracial adoptee in the 60s, dyslexic actor, writer, filmmaker & trainer who loves dim sum, Yorkshire puddings & a nice cuppa cha!"
Lucy is currently working on her first poetry anthology. It will be published in September 2014
Read her amazing article for Banana Writers about transracial adoption.
Hao Guang is interested in form and formation, creativity and quotation, lyrics and line breaks. His poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in QLRS, Prairie Schooner, Tincture, Softblow and Third Coast, amongst other venues, and has also been featured in art exhibitions. His sonnet "Coast" was recently used as a nucleus for a workshop dedicated to discovering the performance potential of poetry.
After publishing hyperlinkage with Singapore-based Math Paper Press, he completed an MA in English and Creative Writing at the University of Chicago. He has just finished writing the lyrics for a musician friend's EP, and is currently working on a full-length collection.
Smitha Abraham: I love traveling in my flights of imagination and use these flights to craft short stories and poetry. I am a budding writer from India.
My passions are reading, creative writing, listening to music, learning new languages, meeting new people, getting acquainted with different cultures and traveling.
Although these days I do not get much time to pursue all my passions as I have a five-month-old baby, I try to devote some time to some of my passions. Authors like Isabel Allende, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, genres like magic realism, historical romance, and writing styles that are imaginative and flow effortlessly fascinate me. I love to unwind with a book curled up on a sofa or by gazing at the stars by the sea shore. I am a nature lover and spending time admiring the sunset and sunrise is relaxing for me.
Read her lovely short story The Girl in Blue published on BW!
AMITABH VIKRAM DWIVEDI is university faculty and assistant professor of linguistics at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, India; and author of two books on lesser known Indian languages: A Grammar of Hadoti and A Grammar of Bhadarwahi.
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As a poet, he has published around fifty poems in different anthologies, journals, and magazines worldwide. Until recently, his poem “Mother” has included as a prologue to Motherhood and War: International Perspectives (Eds.), Palgrave Macmillan Press. 2014.
I'm a girl raised in Brunei. A final year student majoring in Professional Communication & Media Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam. I was first introduced to the world of poetry by my previous English teacher, Miss Irene Chong back when I was in Form 1.
Wrote my first poem called "My Family of Nature", a pretty simple poem, straightforward and I'm still proud of it as it is my first step in venturing into the poetry world. I wish I can rhyme like other poets but hopefully I can in time. When it comes to writing poems, I prefer to just write and let my heart out instead of making my poems full of metaphors. I have a blog (express-portal.blogspot.com) where I post poems & some random things I write from a writing prompt app. I've been working on some articles in hopes to inspire people but it's still not finished as I'm busy with assignments.
I'm the Communications Manager of a five star hotel in Singapore. Apart from managerial duties and assisting with the planning of events, my work includes copywriting, crafting of letters, as well as responding to online reviews.
My greatest enjoyment from reading and writing is the discovery of creative metaphors and similes, which allow me to see the world through fresh lenses. "Piano" involves the use of metaphors, which is a way of telling the reader that no one else in the world has exactly the same feelings as mine. Similarly, "Wind" is an example of personification. I believe that by writing through the persona of nature and objects, I can bring about a clearer understanding of my thoughts, my emotions, and my behavior.
More of my humble works can be found on my Facebook page,
"Insomnia Mosquito's Poetry"
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Insomniac-Mosquitos-Poetry/1429864287291343
"I'm a late-blooming but aspiring British Born Chinese writer who first caught the writing bug at the age of 18 before turning to blogging about the quirky, fascinating world of Japanese, Korean and Chinese pop culture. My escape routes from the busy world of reality usually involve listening to a diverse range of music, watching cult TV and reading comics or the odd novel. Dissecting my ethnic identity has been my long term goal and I hope that through writing I will be able to work on understanding myself and expressing it well."
Khairani Barokka (b. Jakarta, 1985) is a writer, poet, artist, and disability and arts (self-) advocate. Among her honors, she was an NYU Tisch Departmental Fellow for her masters, Emerging Writers Festival’s Inaugural International Writer-In-Residence and Indonesia’s first Writer-In-Residence at Vermont Studio Center.
Okka is the writer/performer/producer of Eve and Mary Are Having Coffee, which premiered at Edinburgh Fringe 2014. She was most recently Artist-In-Residence at Rimbun Dahan, Malaysia. Okka has performed and taught across Asia, the US, Australia, and Europe, and is published in anthologies and literary journals in print and online. She has completed two full-length poetry manuscripts seeking publication, Pilot Light and Oil and enamel on linen: poems, and is working on a collection of lyric essays, among other writing projects; more info at www.khairanibarokka.com / @mailbykite.
I am an honest and loving human being of planet Earth. With 30 years of life experience, married to a beautiful Soul and currently plugged into a management job within a small advertising/production firm in Singapore.
Composing music, writing poetry pieces/lyrics and performing the arts and skateboarding are just a few of the things I love to do. I believe in a world of sharing. Be it in material items or even experiences. This belief has set me on a path of gratitude, kindness and an imploding feeling of oneness with everything. I write to simply share my thoughts and feelings with people of the world. I hope you see a reflection of yourselves within my intimate pieces.
Justin Faith Ng is currently finishing his final year in LASALLE College of the Arts, Puttnam School of film. He has no awards, no critically acclaimed films, no prize-winning poetry and/or short stories and no recognition in the literary world.
Still, he continues to write because he believes that writing gives him hope to wake up every morning and to sleep soundly every night.
He does spoken word poetry sometimes at destination: INK, and writes short stories on Facebook.
I was born in Bangladesh but was raised in Singapore since three years old. Poetry found me from a very young age when I used to write letters and keep journals. During those days, I didn’t know the best way my soul knew how to express was actually through poetic means. Till five years ago, I found writing.com and took this art seriously which got me promoted to a preferred author on their humble platform. I grew everyday through my own words and read verses written by poets from around the world. It has become a very important part of who I am- if you want to know me, you need to know the metaphors I am made of. I am currently working on publishing my first poetry book.
Though, I am a student of Offshore Engineering and I work in a marine industry- my heart and soul revolves around this artistic expression that gives life itself a new perspective.
More of my humble works can be found on- http://www.writing.com/main/portfolio/view/nabila321
Or you can follow my latest pieces on Instagram- @placer.paz
Apala is a daydreamer, a traveler and a reader- but mostly she's a lost soul who likes stumbling upon happiness while watching sunsets. She's previously published poetry with the British Council and is currently working on a novel of her own. A law student and Young India Fellow, she hails from a small, rustic town in India.
I come from a small town of India but education and jobs have given me the opportunity to visit and live in different cities of India. And that experience, along with reading books, has given me a different perspective of life. Other than being a full time Financial Consultant, I also like to read (a lot), write (short stories and poems), sing, sketch and paint and indulge in some artistic pleasures like paper quilling and origami.
As a reader I don’t like to stick to a particular genre, as I think that restricts the knowledge and understanding of our surrounding. I like fiction as much as non-fiction, sci-fi as much as a crime thriller. I judge a book by its back cover. A small write up on the back cover is what attracts me to a book. Writing poems has flown down to me from my father. He has written umpteen poems in different genres (sarcasm, religions, mother, current affairs, behavior of humans etc.) The first poem I wrote (in my mother tongue) was some 10 years ago, when I was a graduate. And till now I have written umpteen poems on various subjects but I am a little annoyed at myself for being a late bloomer.
You can find my poems and short stories on my blog: http://prasadkulkarni.wordpress.com
And you can find me on Twitter (@pbkulkarni) as well :)
Marianne Lyon has been a music teacher for 39 years. After teaching in Hong Kong she returned to the Napa Valley and has been published in various literary magazines and reviews. She has spent time teaching in Nicaragua. She is a member of the California Writers Club, Healdsburg Literary Guild. She is an Adjunct Professor at Touro University Vallejo California
Her three poems were inspired by photographs that were taken by her husband Jim Lyon.
Macy Sandel writes as “The Fire Escape” at a blog she just recently put up -
https://bythefireescape.wordpress.com
She’s been writing for years, but didn’t warm up to the idea of sharing her works until last year, when she realized that one of the many wonderful outcomes of writing is making a difference. She found magic in causing a stir in people’s hearts, especially in strangers who came across her writings. She’s currently working on a book with her very talented friends, who are doing all the illustrations, in the hopes of getting it published one day. If you want laughs or mind-boggling conversations about theories of the universe, drop her a message at thefireescape.writer@gmail.com.