A Clear Dawn: New Asian Voices from Aotearoa New Zealand introduces three new literary voices exploring Asian experiences and identities in Aotearoa. A highlight of Verb Wellington 2021.

Writers Rupa Maitra, Mikee Sto Domingo and Rose Lu join Chris Tse for a lively discussion at the Verb Wellington 2021 Festival.

They discuss stereotypes, Shortland Street, identity, going to Mandarin school on Saturdays, suddenly feeling at home in Newtown, and how to tell their parents about career dreams that aren't quite traditional.

As well as sharing their own experiences, each writer reads from the 2021 anthology A Clear Dawn: New Asian Voices from Aotearoa New Zealand.

Hear Rupa Maitra, Mikee Sto Domingo and Rose Lu talking with Chris Tse at the 2021 Verb Wellington Festival

Related listening:

Rupa Maitra on Nine to Noon

Chris Tse on Standing Room Only

Rose Lu on Afternoons

About the writers

Rupa Maitra

Rupa Maitra, born in Dunedin, completed a degree in violin performance, then studied medicine. She continued to play violin in orchestras when she moved to Wellington and specialised in pathology, taking a break to have children. In 2014 Rupa completed a master's degree in creative writing at Victoria University.

Chris Tse

Chris Tse is the author of two poetry collections published by Auckland University Press: How to be Dead in a Year of Snakes and HE'S SO MASC. His third collection, Super Model Minority, will be published in early 2022. He and Emma Barnes are the co-editors of Out Here: An anthology of Takatāpui and LGBTQIA+ writers from Aotearoa. Chris is The Spinoff's Poetry Editor.

Mikee Sto Domingo

Mikee Sto Domingo is a Filipino-New Zealander currently living and working in Te-Whanganui-a-tara. She has a BA in English Literature from Victoria University and an MA from the IIML. Her work has been published in Turbine, Salient, and A Clear Dawn: New Asian Voices from Aotearoa New Zealand.

Rose Lu

Rose Lu is a writer based in Wellington, New Zealand. She gained her Masters in Creative Writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters in 2018 and was awarded the Modern Letters Prize for Creative Nonfiction. Her first essay collection All Who Live on Islands was published to critical acclaim in 2019. Her undergraduate degree was in Mechatronics Engineering and she has worked as a software developer since 2012.

This session was broadcast in association with Verb Wellington

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details