Prizes, Events, Fellowships & Mentorships
Alongside commissioning and publishing writing and art on Liminal, I am interested in creating opportunities that are clearly marked for marginalised and racialised people. In making these spaces of affirmative action, I aim to shift (even in the smallest way) our shared cultural landscape. Since 2018, I have run free literary events for my community; developed an international writing workshop for early-career writers; created two national literary awards for First Nations writers and writers of colour; established a writing fellowship and residency for Asian Australian artists, and editorial mentorships for emerging Asian Australian editors.
If you are interested in supporting projects or programs like these, I would love to talk.
Slow Currents Writing Workshop 2022—2024
An international Asian diaspora workshop of eight early-career writers, the Slow Currents writing workshop brings together talented writers from Australia and Aotearoa, over three years: Bryant Apolonio, Saraid de Silva, Elizabeth Flux, Hasib Hourani, Nathan Joe, Rose Lu, Cher Tan and Chris Tse
Formed through slow and intentional dialogue between myself and Rosabel Tan (Director, Satellites), our two organisations have partnered with the Asian American Writers Workshop for this pilot year.
The 2022 workshop brought together these eight writers into dialogue with George Abraham, Piyali Bhattacharya, Alice Sparkly Kat, Hua Hsu, Viet Thanh Nguyen and Charles Yu. The 2023 program was invited by the Smithsonian to Washington DC for the Asian American Literary Festival.
Nonfiction Prize 2021
Following the success of the 2019 LIMINAL Fiction Prize and our subsequent anthology, Collisions, I worked with Pantera Press to create the LIMINAL & Pantera Press Nonfiction Prize, for First Nations writers and writers of colour.
This inaugural Nonfiction Prize calls for writing on the theme of ‘Archive’. Archives are not merely sites where knowledge is retrieved, but sites where knowledge is produced. What is placed in an archive is often a monument to political authority—and the narrative that authority wishes to tell.
We are looking for work from First Nations writers, and Australian writers of colour who seek to challenge singular narratives about the past, and who wish to offer testimony and prophecy alike.
PRIZES
The winning entry will receive $10,000; the runner-up will receive $2,000; all longlisted writers will receive $300 and publication in a forthcoming anthology with Pantera Press
JUDGES
Brian Castro, Maddee Clark & Shakira Hussein
2020 PRIZE WINNER
In 2020, the LIMINAL & Pantera Press Nonfiction Prize was awarded to Hassan Abul, with André Dao and Mykaela Saunders named equal runners-up.
Editorial Mentorship 2022
In 2021, Liminal & Writers SA invited emerging Asian-Australian editors based in South Australia to apply for a year-long editorial mentorship in 2022. The mentees will work closely with Cher Tan (non-fiction) and Elizabeth Flux (fiction) to edit the forthcoming Liminal x Writers SA series. Each mentee will learn how to edit and shape pieces for digital publication, as well as receive feedback and guidance throughout the entire editorial process.
Each emerging editor will be paid a stipend of $1600, which will support the upskilling and development of an emerging Asian-Australian editor based in South Australia.
The mentorship recipients will be announced in early 2022.
Fiction Prize 2019
In 2018, I researched Australian Literary Prizes, and was dissatisfied with the scarce representation of writers of colour. In 2019, after receiving a grant from The Australia Council for the Arts, I announced the LIMINAL Fiction Prize, a new literary prize for Australian Writers of Colour, the first of its kind.
With a theme of ‘the future’, we sought fiction of a new world: not the stuff of flying cars or robots, but a future that pulls against or weaves together Australia’s many fabricated histories.
PRIZES
First prize of $2500 + publication in The Lifted Brow magazine
Runner up will receive $500 + publication in Kill Your Darlings magazine
All longlisted pieces were published in Collisions, an anthology with Pantera Press.
JUDGES
Evelyn Araluen, Julie Koh & Brian Castro
2019 PRIZE WINNER
In 2019, the LIMINAL Fiction Prize was awarded to Bryant Apolonio, for his story ‘Bad Weather’. Claire Cao was named Runner-Up for her story, ‘See You Tomorrow.’
Writing Fellowship 2020
In 2020, I worked with Nikki Lam and Phuong Ngo of Hyphenated Projects to establish the LIMINAL x Hyphenated Projects 2020 Writing Fellowship. The Fellowship offered an Asian-Australian writer the opportunity to complete a week-long residency at Hyphenated Projects, a stipend, and four paid writing outcomes featuring interviews with Hyphenated Projects artists-in-residence, to be published by LIMINAL.
In 2020, the Fellowship was awarded to writer and critic Jinghua Qian.
