ESEA AUTHORS LITERARY FESTIVAL
Tuyền Đỗ
KEYNOTE
Tuyền Đỗ is a British Vietnamese actor writer who has performed across UK stages and screen including The National Theatre, Royal Court Theatre, Hampstead Theatre, BBC, Netflix, and more. Her debut play Summer Rolls was the first British Vietnamese play to be staged in the UK, receiving the 2019/20 Channel 4 Playwrights award. She has contributed to various publications, including East Side Voices and Hear Me Now: Audition Monologues for Actors of Colour. Summer Rolls the novel is her debut as an author. tuyendo.co.uk
Wendy Shakespeare
KEYNOTE
An editor of 20+ years, Wendy Shakespeare’s life story from being a child of immigrants to becoming a respected professional speaks to the journeys of many ESEA storytellers. She opens Story Feast in a year when the festival will feature its first panel exploring the ESEA voice in publishing and when the first Little Story Feast will be held in partnership with the British Library. Recently, Wendy has had the opportunity to work with several ESEA authors, including Han Kang, winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Yen Ooi
Yen is a narrative designer, writer, editor, and researcher with a diverse portfolio of work from short stories to books, poetry to computer games, academic papers to non-fiction books. Her interest lies in the connections between storytelling and the real world, delving into culture and philosophy—most recently, culminating in zoefuturism. Her latest projects include Rén: The Ancient Chinese Art of Finding Peace and Fulfilment (non-fiction) and Tales of Seikyu (game). When she's not got her head in a story, she lectures, mentors and plays the viola. www.yenooi.com
Xueting C. Ni
Xueting C. Ni is a writer, curator, consultant and translator. She has written extensively on Chinese cultures for a decade and a half, working with companies, institutions, and festivals, to help improve understanding of China’s heritage, cultures and innovation. She is the author of From Kuan Yin to Chairman Mao: An Essential Guide to Chinese Deities and Chinese Myths. Her curated collection Sinopticon: A Celebration of Chinese Science Fiction won Best Anthology at the BFS Awards, 2022. Her collection Sinophagia: A Celebration of Chinese Horror was published in September 2024. She is currently working on a book on wuxia culture, some new translations and various other projects. snowpavilion.co.uk
Suyin Du Bois
Suyin Du Bois is a poet of mixed Chinese-Malaysian and Belgian heritage, living in London. Her work has been published in Propel, Iamb, and Bi+ Lines, and her debut pamphlet Eating Air, which explores belonging and connection through the prism of food, will be published in July 2026 by The Emma Press. She is a member of the Southbank Centre's New Poets Collective 2024/25. When not obsessing over word choice, she spends her time building a profit-with-purpose start up that seeks to ensure 24/7 access to nutritious, affordable food for NHS hospital staff. Suyin on Instagram
So-Shan Au
So-Shan Au is Senior Lead Product Manager at Hachette Learning. She publishes educational print and digital resources for all ages, Primary up to A Level and Diploma, which are used around the world. Before joining Hachette Learning, So-Shan worked for Oxford University Press (OUP) in Hong Kong on their English language teaching resources. So-Shan started her publishing career working on business management textbooks and encyclopaedia. So-Shan on LinkedIn
Sojung
Kim-
McCarthy
Sojung Kim-McCarthy is the author-illustrator of Binna's Dalgona. She is based in Dorset, UK. After studying VisComm (BFA) at Hong-ik University, she worked as a designer-in-chief for a leading children’s magazine as well as a children’s art and design educator. Sojung won a World Illustration Award in 2021 with her Minari movie postcard illustrations. She has also been highly commended for both the FAB Prize and the Macmillan Prize, as well as being long listed for the House of Illustration & Folio Society Book Illustration CoSojung Kim-McCarthy is an award-winning author & illustrator from Korea. Originally trained as a graphic designer, she has been telling stories about finding a home in a new place, feeling/being different, and body image. When not working on stories, she is cooking a giant pot of soup for her local community kitchen in Bournemouth. sojungkimmccarthy.art
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Natelle Quek
Natelle is a Malaysian-born illustrator who grew up in New Zealand, and now lives in leafy Southeast England with her husband and their rescue cat, Patch. She draws from constant evolving influences, from popular culture, to her heritage and personal experiences, through to the natural world. Natelle currently works with a growing list of clients, focusing on children’s illustration, in particular picture books (The Paper Piano, Dancing Dumplings For My One and Only), young fiction (Finally Seen), and non-fiction (Welcoming the Lunar New Year). natellequek.com
Nghiem Ta
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Nghiem Ta (Neem) is currently an Art Director at Walker Books. She currently works on a broad range of books that includes brand/character publishing, picture books and specials for the Walker Studio list. Previously, Nghiem was a Senior Designer at Templar Publishing, having designed and art directed the first 12 Ology books – Dragonology to Dinosaurology. She also helped establish the Pictura range of colouring-in books, working with artists to create panoramic pieces of black and white line art. Here, she had her first collaboration with Shaun Tan. Nghiem started her career working as a Designer and Paper Engineer with Ron van der Meer and Mark Hiner, assisting with the creation complex pop-up books. Nghiem on Instagram
Nicole Ocran
Nicole Ocran is an Ghanaian-Filipino author, journalist, podcaster and fashion influencer who has been sharing her personal style and life online for over a decade. She was born in Virginia and lives in London. She is the co-author of The Half of It: Exploring the Mixed Race Experience and the co-host of Mixed Up, the award-winning podcast about race and identity through the lens of the mixed-race perspective. nicoleocran.com
Maisie
Chan
Maisie Chan is an award-winning children’s author best known for her debut novel Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths. She also writes the Tiger Warrior series and one of the authors featured in The Very Merry Murder Club. Her new novel is called Nate Yu’s Blast From the Past which is about a trans racially adopted boy who meets a ghost from the Chinese Labour Corp from the First World War. maisiechan.com
Lui Sit
Lui Sit is an award-winning author of children’s middle grade books, adult short fiction, and nonfiction. Her debut middle grade contemporary adventure book – Land of the Last Wildcat was Waterstones Children's Book of the Month in May 2025. Her middle grade cosy crime mystery book – The Lucky House Detective Agency (writing as Scarlett Li) was written in collaboration with Storymix. She was born in Hong Kong, grew up in Australia and now lives in London with her family and moody cat. She is happiest in the sea, a forest or a library. lui-land.co.uk
Lucy Tandon Copp
Lucy is a Malaysian-Chinese and English children's author and award-winning journalist, based in the UK. Her debut picture book A Love as Full as the Moon is due to be published with Puffin (Penguin) in August. Her second book Logan's Lantern is publishing with Bloomsbury in January 2026. Lucy is passionate about increasing mixed race and British East and South East Asian (BESEA) representation in children's books and on UK bookshelves. Her stories are bursting with heart and spread a message of inclusivity and empathy through lovable characters that everyone can relate to. lucytandoncopp.com
Loan Tran
Loan Tran is a mother, memoirist and Hakomi Practitioner. Born in Saigon, her family located to England in 1962. She has lived in the UK and France and is on a life long quest to keep her roots and heritage alive. She is a fan of all forms of storytelling be it through books, eating together, film or songs. Outdoor swimming and plants keep her sane and grateful. The arts and mindfulness are her faithful companions in exploring identity, creativity and connection. loantran.net
Laura Xu
I am Laura Xu, originally from Beijing, China, with a background in Chinese Linguistics and Literature. Driven by a lifelong passion for books, I chose to pursue a career in publishing after graduation. I was fortunate to begin my career in rights sales at Penguin Random House North Asia in 2015, progressing from Rights Assistant to Senior Rights Manager. During the pandemic, I decided to come to the UK to pursue further studies. After completing a Master's degree in Creative and Cultural Industries at King's College London, I continued my rights career in the UK and am now based in London.
Jason Chuang
Jason Chuang is an illustrator and storyteller based in Taiwan and the UK. His practice focuses on the exploration of human emotions through the creation of symbolic imageries, coating them with elements of the absurd and poetries. He was the cover artist for Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan and the illustrator of The Moon Rabbit by Eva Wong Nava. jasonchuangart.co.uk
Eva
Wong Nava
Eva Wong Nava is an award-winning children's author. She is the author of Dancing Dumplings For My One And Only, Wednesday Is For Wiggling and The Moon Rabbit amongst other books for children. She writes stories filled with lore, magic and food, inspired by her childhood growing up in Southeast Asia. evawongnava.com
Eric Huang
Eric Huang wanted to be a palaeontologist. Field work didn't live up to his Jurassic Park dreams, though, so he spent a year doing odd jobs before landing a role as secretary to the Creative Director at Disney Publishing Worldwide. The temp job turned into a career in publishing spanning three decades and three continents! Today Eric is an author, podcaster, and Deputy Programme Director for the Masters in Publishing programme at City St George’s, University of London. Eric on Instagram
Emma Shevah
Emma Shevah is Thai and Irish (which probably makes her Thairish), and was born and raised in London. She lives in Brighton with half of her four children, their speedy tortoise and a kamikaze hamster. Emma runs the Literary Club at New York University in London and teaches English at Francis Holland School. She is the author of the Bloomsbury Young Reader Hello, Baby Mo!, the Bloomsbury Reader Ping and the Missing Ring as well as middle-grade novels including Dream On, Amber and How to Save the World with a Chicken and an Egg. emmashevah.com
Emma Nanami Strenner
Emma Nanami Strenner has been a journalist for over twenty years. She has written for VOGUE, ELLE, Net-a-Porter, Stylist Magazine, The Times and Conde Nast Traveller. Emma is British-Japanese and studied Mandarin at the University of Leeds. She completed the Curtis Brown Creative Six Month Novel Writing Course and is also a Faber Academy Alumni. She has spent much of her life living abroad in Japan, Vietnam, Australia, China, Singapore and the US. She currently lives in London. My Other Heart is her debut novel. Emma on Instagram
Emma
Farrarons
Emma Farrarons is an author and illustrator based in South London. She is rarely without her sketchbook, capturing everyday moments and turning them into visual stories. Born in Cebu, Philippines, and raised in Paris, Emma grew up immersed in books and drawing. Before fully embracing illustration, she spent over 16 years designing picture books at Macmillan Children’s Books. Her debut as a picture book illustrator, My Hair is as Long as a River by Charlie Castle, is shortlisted for the 2025 Klaus Flugge Prize. Her new early reader, Wands Away: Learning to Fly, about a young witch at school, publishes in August 2025. emmafarrarons.com
Daphne Tonge
Daphne is the founder and CEO of Illumicrate, the UK’s first specialist book subscription box since 2015, and a wonderful community of avid book lovers. She is also the founder and Managing Director of Daphne Press, a new Science Fiction and Fantasy publisher.
She’s judged for book prizes and is an event chair. Previously, she was an award-winning book blogger. She lives in London, but is a Chinese-Filipino born and raised in Manila. She can usually be found fangirling over first editions & fictional princes, and recommending books on social media at: @daphlt
Daisy J. Hung
Daisy J. Hung is the author of I am Not a Tourist: Conversations on Being British Chinese. She is a diversity practitioner, author and artist, advocating for social justice across personal and professional spheres. She is the Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division at the University of Oxford. Daisy has a unique, international perspective on race, identity, and belonging, informed by a career of over two decades across legal, non-profit and education sectors working to support marginalised communities. As a person of Chinese descent, born in Canada with family from Hong Kong, raised in the US, and now settled in the UK, her sense of identity has shifted among many different contexts. daisyjhung.com
Chi Thai
Chi Thai is an award-winning filmmaker and author whose remarkable journey has shaped her powerful storytelling. Fleeing Vietnam with her family in the 1980s, she was one of thousands of boat refugees risking everything in search of safety. Today, her voice resonates through groundbreaking work, including producing Raging Grace, a two-time SXSW 2023 Grand Jury Prize winner, and writing, producing, and directing Lullaby, honored as Best Short Film at the Asian World Film Festival 2024. Now, with her debut picture book The Endless Sea, Chi shares her deeply personal refugee story, bringing a poignant tale of resilience and hope to readers of all ages. Chi on Instagram
Carla
Montemayor
Carla is a Filipino writer of creative non-fiction. She received the London Writers Award in 2021 and was a fellow at the London Library's Emerging Writers Programme in 2022. Her work appears in several anthologies, among them London Feeds Itself (Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2024). She is represented by Lisette Verhagen of PFDA. Her family memoir about the storytelling tradition of her foremothers will be published by Chatto and Windus in July 2026. carlamontemayor.net
Candy Gourlay
Candy Gourlay was born in the Philippines, grew up under a dictatorship and met her husband during a revolution. Her novels have been shortlisted for many prizes including the Waterstones, the Blue Peter, the Guardian Children's Book Award, the Costa and the Carnegie. Her latest novel for young adults Wild Song transports its characters to the 1904 World Fair in America. It was shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize and the inaugural Nero Book Award. Her latest picture book is Little Rhino Lost. She loves making comics and waging war on the snails in her garden. candygourlay.co.uk
Camille Whitcher
I’m a British-Japanese illustrator-author based in London.
I graduated in 2016 with an MA in Children’s Book Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art. In 2017, I won the inaugural Stratford Literary Festival - Salariya Children’s Picture Book Prize. My debut picture book, Luna and the Moon Rabbit, was published in 2018. It went on to be selected as one of Smithsonian’s Air & Space Magazine’s ‘Best Children’s Books of 2018’. camillewhitcher.co.uk
Anne Chen
Anne Chen is British-Chinese and lives in London with her husband and two children. She studied Physics at UCL and the University of Surrey and worked in research on Ion Beam Analysis. She has a post graduate diploma in Actuarial Science. Anne has written for Oxford University Press and is currently writing MG and YA Chinese fantasy with magical martial arts, secret societies and sentient swords. She also enjoys reading and writing science fiction. Anne is an alumna of the London Writers Awards (2018) and the HarperCollins Author Academy programme (2022). She participates in the MG writing group with the Megaphone Writers Community, which amplifies children’s writers of colour. Anne is a happy member of the Bubble Tea Writers Network for ESEA creatives and enjoys their regular lunchtime meet-ups. Anne on Instagram
Amelie Skoda
Amélie Skoda was born in London to French and Malaysian parents and grew up in Kent. She studied English at University College London and has an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway, University of London. Her debut novel Bethnal Green (Manilla Press, 2025) was shortlisted for the 2021 Mo Siewcharran prize and has been longlisted for the 2025 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize. amelieskoda.com
Alex Barrow
Alex Barrow grew up in Windsor to Filipino and English Parents before moving to South London to study illustration at Central Saint Martins. Today, Alex is a regular contributor and an Art Director for popular science and arts themed children's magazine OKIDO Magazine His first book for children, A Possum's Tail, was published in 2014 and was quickly nominated for the 2015 Cilip Kate Greenaway Medal. Other books include If I had a Dinosaur (now an ongoing series) which has been nominated for the Yoto Carngie medal for illustration 2024 and won the Made for Moms Silver award. It was read on Cbeebies Bedtime Stories by Eddie Redmayne and David Schwimmer. Alex finds a lot of inspiration from old things in bric a brac shops – such as vintage menswear, mid century children's books, hot jazz shellac and antique accordions. alexbarrow.co.uk