Join Elaine Chiew for the launch of her debut short story collection, The Heartsick Diaspora, at Singapore Writers Festival on the 6th November.

Set in different cities around the world, Elaine Chiew’s award-winning stories travel into the heart of the Singaporean and Malaysian Chinese diasporas to explore the lives of those torn between cultures and juggling divided selves.

In the title story, four writers find their cultural bonds of friendship tested when a handsome young Asian writer joins their group. In other stories, a brother searches for his sister forced to serve as a comfort woman during World War Two; three Singaporean sisters run a French gourmet restaurant in New York; a woman raps about being a Tiger Mother in Belgravia; and a filmmaker struggles to document the lives of samsui women—Singapore’s thrifty, hardworking construction workers.

Acutely observed, wry and playful, her stories are as worldly and emotionally resonant as the characters themselves. This fabulous debut collection heralds an exciting new literary voice.

This event is free and will take place in Gallery 2 at The Arts House.

We will be launching the UK publication of The Heartsick Diaspora on the 23rd January at Waterstones Tottenham Court Road in London. More information coming soon.