#YISHREADS October 2023

Looking for a Halloween costume? Ng Yi-Sheng offers several scary ideas from Asia.

ReviewJee KohOctober 27, 2023Ng Yi-ShengComment

When the World's Too Much

Diane Josefowicz reviews The Enlightenment of Katzuo Nakamatsu, by Augusto Higa Oshiro, translated by Jennifer Shyue, a novel about a descendant of Japanese immigrants to Peru.

ReviewJee KohOctober 27, 2023Diane JosefowiczComment

Recommendation Letter for Iqra Islam

“Without understanding her, you will glance briefly over her CV, over her proposal, over her application letter and reject her.” A new story by Niaz Zaman.

FictionJee KohOctober 20, 2023Niaz ZamanComment

On Not Killing the Thing You Love

Lydia Wei reviews Dear Bear, by Ae Hee Lee (UK: Platypus Press, 2021), and discovers a world characterized simultaneously by blossom and apocalypse.

ReviewJee KohOctober 13, 2023Lydia WeiComment

Snow Phoenix

In the new story "Snow Phoenix," by Ted Serafin, a transplant from Harbin, China, to Singapore finds novel ways to adapt to the tropics.

FictionJee KohOctober 6, 2023Ted SerafinComment

#YISHREADS September 2023

For National Hispanic Heritage Month in the US, Ng Yi-Sheng offers a delectable selection of titles from different nations, time periods, and genres.

ReviewJee KohSeptember 29, 2023Ng Yi-ShengComment

“Four Ribs Past” and Other Poems

“In every cathedral, a man is waiting/ to be ruined.” Three poems by Conan Tan about the life and death, the movement and the stillness, of desire.

PoetryJee KohSeptember 29, 2023Conan TanComment

Queer Bodies

Marylyn Tan’s poem “Queer Bodies” inspires a dramatic response written and directed by Audrey Forman.

PoetryJee KohSeptember 22, 2023Audrey FormanComment

“naked in our times” and “… the enemy has only images, the shaolin say”

If you could speak with Mr. Sulu, what would you say? What about Anna May Wong? Kathleen Hellen knows what she would say.

PoetryJee KohSeptember 22, 2023Kathleen HellenComment

What Paprika Is Really About: And what it meant to Director Satoshi Kon

Branden Zavaleta explains the method in the madness of the anime film "Paprika.”

ReviewJee KohSeptember 15, 2023Branden ZavaletaComment

Absolute Control: Illustrating Marylyn Tan’s “Nasi Kang Kang”

Kelly Sadikun responds to Marylyn Tan’s poem “Nasi Kang Kang” with a fantastic visualization.

PoetryJee KohSeptember 15, 2023Kelly SadikunComment

Viewed Aslant

Eschewing the merely personal in his poetry, Shangyang Fang explores new possibilities in Burying the Mountain, as Kendrick Loo delineates in his review.

ReviewJee KohSeptember 8, 2023Kendrick LooComment

"The Tar Road" and Other Poems

In the poems of Shatrughna Pandab, translator Pitamber Naik urges you to hear the voice of the original inhabitants of Odisha, India, who live like strangers in their own land.

PoetryJee KohSeptember 1, 2023Pitambar Naik, Shatrughna Pandab Comments

Art, Reality, and K-Pop In Between

In Esther Yi’s novel Y/N, the author blurs the line between fiction and fanfiction, as Elise J. Choi explains in her review.

ReviewJee KohAugust 25, 2023Elise J. ChoiComment

#YISHREADS August 2023

Ng Yi-Sheng honors Good Elders and Younger Brothers in this roll-call of books about spirits and spirituality in the modern world.

ReviewJee KohAugust 25, 2023Ng Yi-ShengComment

“On Bewilderment” and Other Poems

What is it like to give birth in America? What is it like to be praised for speaking good English? Three new poems, by Mia Ayumi Malhotra, find a way out of the bewilderment.

PoetryJee KohAugust 18, 2023Mia Ayumi MalhotraComment

Getting Up to Fight

Does terrorism derive from ‘tierra’, Spanish for land, or ‘err’, Greek for incorrect, or is it close to ‘terremoto’, Spanish for earthquake? Jonathan Chan reviews Diaries of a Terrorist by Christopher Soto.

ReviewJee KohAugust 11, 2023Jonathan ChanComment