“We are powerful because we have survived, and that is what it is all about—survival and growth.”
– Audre Lorde
In Southeast Asia, colonialism has left a scathing mark of anti-LGBT violence. As our queer-friendly indigenous traditions were erased, our environment became stripped of its sustainability. To address this, we invited Southeast Asian writers to tell stories about Queer Ecology — the intersections of queer and environmental struggle.
We received some outstanding stories and we are so excited to share them with you. The pieces will be published on March 3rd, but we’re inviting you for a special sneak preview through a reading by the authors. Join us for a reading of the pieces and a Q&A with the authors and the editors, Bonnibel Rambatan and Fadiyah Alaidrus.
/ba∙ca/ with New Naratif is a reading group series that invites members to come together to discuss selected stories published by New Naratif.
For this reading, there is a minimum donation of US$5, for which you’ll receive a month’s New Naratif membership. Existing members can attend this event for free! Join New Naratif as a member today.
Writers:
Audris Candra (they/them) is a Chinese-Indonesian writer, shaman, and editor/sensitivity reader. As a gremlin of a human, they enjoy making new nemeses (read: friends but make it spicy) and eating good food. You can contact them for their services at audris[dot]serat[at]gmail[dot]com.
Ara Tirta (they/them) is a writer based in Jakarta. Their work revolves mostly around poetry. They occasionally work as an organiser in arts and literary initiatives.
Bageur Al Ikhsan (he/him) is a proud full-time brother of six siblings. Bageur’s fondness for art makes it easy for people to find him in museums, art galleries, or even hop from one park to another only to write and paint by himself. You can greet him through his Instagram and Twitter account, @bersemesta.
Choo Yi Feng (he/him) is a prose writer who creates fiction at the interface of queerness and ecology. His short stories have been published in Foglifter Journal, Anathema: Spec from the Margins, Queer Southeast Asia and Alluvium, the journal of Literary Shanghai. He dwells at coastlines, mudflats and coral rubble.
Himas Nur (she/her), writes poems, essays, reports, and research that focus on queer and feminist discourses. Her works can be found at linktr.ee/himasnur.
Jing Ying Yeo (she/they) is a recent graduate from Yale-NUS college where they majored in Environmental Studies and minored in Philosophy. As a queer Singaporean who finds neither their Chinese nor Thai identity very salient, they are trying to reconnect with their roots and ancestry in a bid to also better understand their queer self/community.
Korionto (she/her) is a Khmer-American writer, graduate student, and aspiring librarian. She spends most of her time writing fanfiction, but will occasionally step out of her den to talk about Southeast Asian history, languages, or tomatoes. You can contact her at korionto[dot]kom[at]gmail[dot]com.
Violacea Low (she/her) is a KLite with a name that not many can pronounce (just try :)). She is an educator by profession who enjoys working on her creative pursuits. When she is not teaching primary school kids or worrying over her Master’s thesis, she hosts the Kawaii Vio podcast with her sister! It’s a pandemic coping mechanism turned passion project. Keep in touch on Instagram at @thevioisme.
Editors:
Bonnibel Rambatan has been founding and leading content strategy for various organisations for over a decade. Having worked in fields of journalism, media analysis, and critical theory, their experience in content production has spanned various industries: novels, film, television, comics, online videos, and podcasts. An independent scholar and artist, they are passionate about finding new possibilities for solidarity and liberation. Their most recent book Event Horizon: Sexuality, Politics, Online Culture, and the Limits of Capitalism (co-written with Jacob Johanssen, published by Zer0 Books in 2022) asks the question: “When our desires become the product of tech giants, what ways are there left for us to dream?”
Fadiyah Alaidrus is an English Language Content Editor for New Naratif. Their works have been published in Wall Street Journal, Mongabay, Coconuts Jakarta, Project Multatuli, Tirto, Tempo, etc. Mainly, they write about environmental, gender and human rights issues.
Recommended reading:
- New Naratif’s Flash Fiction collection
Supplementary readings:
- Queer Ecology by Timothy Morton
- World Ocean’s Day x Queer Ecology: Queer like nature, Fluid like the ocean by RQ, published by SG’s Climate Rally
