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Language, Shame and Betrayal – Tash Aw in conversation
Audio 10
Capture, Treason and Solidarity—Writer Tash Aw joins Berlin Review publisher Tobias Haberkorn for a deeply personal and politically resonant conversation about migration, class mobility, family loyalty, and what it means to feel like a traitor simply for having changed.
Reading from his essay “Traitors,” published in Berlin Review Reader 4—Summer 2025, Aw reflects on growing up in Malaysia, the silence surrounding the 1969 pogrom, switching languages on public buses, the solitude of queer ambition, moving to the heart of the anglo-dominanted system of world literature—and the quiet distance that grows between those who leave and those who stay. What does it mean to change class, and in doing so, lose the language, lives, and histories of the people who raised you? Is it possible to feel both betrayal and love at the same time?
In Cooperation with daadgalerie.
[00:00] Introduction to Tash Aw and the event context
[03:10] Growing up between languages in Malaysia
[06:45] Race, migration, and inherited silence
[11:30] Reading from “Traitors” (Berlin Review Reader 4, Summer 2025)
[18:40] Shame, language, and public identity
[24:10] Class mobility and the feeling of betrayal
[29:30] Queerness and education as escape routes
[35:10] Writing as resistance to silence
[50:10] Cross-cultural trauma and generational loss
[59:00] Final reflections on loyalty, distance, and voice
Taipei-born novelist Tash Aw debuted in 2005 with “The Harmony Silk Factory,” which is set during the British colonial rule and Japanese occupation of Malaysia. His fifth novel, The South, was published by 4th Estate in February 2025. Tash is a fellow at the Royal Society of Literature in London and was a DAAD fellow in Berlin in 2024/25.
Read Tash’s Essay in Berlin Review Reader 4 or online at blnreview.de
More about our event and audio program at blnreview.de/audio.
Access our regular online editions and full archive by subscribing from 5 € / month.
You can find us on instagram at @blnreview.
View all episodes
By Tobias Haberkorn, Samir Sellami et al.Audio 10
Capture, Treason and Solidarity—Writer Tash Aw joins Berlin Review publisher Tobias Haberkorn for a deeply personal and politically resonant conversation about migration, class mobility, family loyalty, and what it means to feel like a traitor simply for having changed.
Reading from his essay “Traitors,” published in Berlin Review Reader 4—Summer 2025, Aw reflects on growing up in Malaysia, the silence surrounding the 1969 pogrom, switching languages on public buses, the solitude of queer ambition, moving to the heart of the anglo-dominanted system of world literature—and the quiet distance that grows between those who leave and those who stay. What does it mean to change class, and in doing so, lose the language, lives, and histories of the people who raised you? Is it possible to feel both betrayal and love at the same time?
In Cooperation with daadgalerie.
[00:00] Introduction to Tash Aw and the event context
[03:10] Growing up between languages in Malaysia
[06:45] Race, migration, and inherited silence
[11:30] Reading from “Traitors” (Berlin Review Reader 4, Summer 2025)
[18:40] Shame, language, and public identity
[24:10] Class mobility and the feeling of betrayal
[29:30] Queerness and education as escape routes
[35:10] Writing as resistance to silence
[50:10] Cross-cultural trauma and generational loss
[59:00] Final reflections on loyalty, distance, and voice
Taipei-born novelist Tash Aw debuted in 2005 with “The Harmony Silk Factory,” which is set during the British colonial rule and Japanese occupation of Malaysia. His fifth novel, The South, was published by 4th Estate in February 2025. Tash is a fellow at the Royal Society of Literature in London and was a DAAD fellow in Berlin in 2024/25.
Read Tash’s Essay in Berlin Review Reader 4 or online at blnreview.de
More about our event and audio program at blnreview.de/audio.
Access our regular online editions and full archive by subscribing from 5 € / month.
You can find us on instagram at @blnreview.