Asian Reads | Issue 01
From Mental Health to Hollywood: Asian Writers Tackle Crucial Topics
Asian Writers’ Collective is a publication dedicated to fostering greater understanding and appreciation of Asian cultures and experiences among a global readership. Subscribe to the Asian Writer’s Collective to decolonize your reading and discover unique writing.
This issue of AWC features was curated by
of Stories and States. She is a South Asian based in Pakistan and proud member of the AWC team. Popular posts she’s written include “Why Deep Thinking is Dying” and “When My Inner Critic Almost Destroyed Reading and Writing for Me.”This post is about the blooming Asian community here on Substack, and I’m excited to introduce you to my picks for this month. In the following posts, I hope you find something insightful and thought-provoking. For fellow Asian readers, I hope you feel seen, and stand a little taller after reading these wonderful posts.
You will come to see that I made a point of featuring the posts that seem to be starting out, and are not as known on Substack quite yet. I hope my effort here remedies this and the slowly building community at AWC gives these writers and their pieces the love and support they deserve.
Non-fiction Features
MENTAL HEALTH
“My First Post is Ethically Pirated…”
Not only does this first feature touch on some very important topics, it also needs more publicity than it is currently getting. So community, show what you’ve got with this one!
For reference, Asian countries are notorious for high suicide rates due to academic pressures, and here,
highlights how big institutions in India hide the real statistics from the public, as well as his own journey in trying to fight against these crimes.In the last two weeks, there have been two more such tragedies in a similar institution, mine. (There is no footnote available as the info isn't and won't be out) I know because of the vague condolences meeting emails I received, followed by customary mail for mental health awareness. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to go to those meetings(reason mentioned further in the post), but most of the people on campus know how these things are handled and long gave up hope. Both of those deaths are deemed suicides on the campus, from academic harassment which is dubbed and used as academic pressure.
CULTURE & REVOLUTION
“The revolution will not be sponsored by your third world unity sweatshirt”
Capitalism is scarily elastic; you counter one problem, and it adjusts to benefit from its so-called solution.
in this essay highlights not only how we forget to account for that, but also how not being aware of it can create an illusion of progress.What I’m trying to say is there are many entrepreneurs that have made identity politics, imperial resistance, decolonisation, and third world solidarity part of their brand identity. To buy a piece of this ‘culture’ that we are commodifying, they are saying, is to then be a part of resistance, decolonising, third world solidarity and alt world building. But this is simply untrue. Not only is this untrue, it is also antithetical to true revolutionary praxis. To the building of the future that we must embark on as we let go of the ideas of the past that have been sold to us.
BEAUTY
“Fair & Lovely”
We Asians have some strict beauty standards. Most of our elders are fierce colourists.: one of the factors that treads through our generational trauma cycles. Right now as you read this post, in my mother’s dressing drawer is a tube of “glow & lovely ADVANCED” a rebrand of the cream this post is named after; “fair & lovely”. Infact, let me show you…
I think I’ll let
’s post speak the rest, through an added lens of motherhood and personal experiences.On one such occasion, I was in the process of taking my crying baby back from the arms of a relative, fed up with the constant onslaught of guests, when I was asked, “Did you not eat well when you were pregnant? Why is your child so small? She should be chubby and fat. If your breast milk is not enough then feed her formula, please.” It was not a suggestion.
I held my daughter against my chest and left.
ASIANS IN HOLLYWOOD
“Young Hollywood was Asian”
This is also one of the gems I found nominated in our chat, and in this highly informative post,
tells us about how Asians were a big part of early Hollywood, while hinting at the racist structures today that demean us.Young Hollywood was the Wild West. Nobody with money or prestige was rushing to California to work in motion pictures, at least not yet, which meant the barriers to entry were pretty low to non-existent. California had a sizable Chinese population due to the many immigrants who had come to America during the Gold Rush and worked on the railroad, opened up laundries, taken jobs as domestic servants, or built prosperous small businesses. The West Coast’s proximity to Asia also made it a popular point of entry for those sailing from East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands. It’s not a stretch to think that some of these people might get mixed up in the movie business when it sprouted up overnight in their backyard.
Fiction Features
A Palette of Vengeance
With Asian-fishing at an odd rise in online spaces for fiction writers, this short story by none other than the brilliant
seems oddly fitting. Written in some of the most gorgeous prose out there, this little story of revenge and artist spaces is a pleasantly suspenseful journey.The dim lantern light flickers, casting shifting shadows on her angled face, making her look almost gargoyle-like. Lines etched by time deepen with each flicker, as if struggling to hold onto a human façade.
It does nothing to calm the rapid beating of my heart. She takes another big sip of wine, her hand steady despite the growing storm in her eyes.
My Grandma, so Clean
nominated this piece in the chat, and I was sold. This poem talks about a variety of topics that need more awareness in South Asia. From period blood, to failed love marriages, the poem covers it all in a fast paced and riveting manner. then suddenly, in a burst of lucidity
a break from her dementia symptoms
she remembers
you had the dress made in Lahore it came in the mail,
take me to your house
I want to see it
the red—
Dull Girl
This short story revolves around themes of academic pressures, unrealistic expectations, and bullying.
’s narration was stunning in this piece, and I love the story and what it represents.Dolly took to science, social studies, computers, art, and shot over the vaulting horse like a star. Things Dolly couldn’t ace included music, mathematics, and making friends. When Nida talked about the latest episode of ‘Shaka Laka Boom Boom’, Dolly said she didn’t like cable, so she convinced her parents to not have a television. Nida didn’t like that response, so she convinced the other girls to not invite Dolly to shared lunches.
This issue of AWC features was curated by
of Stories and States. If you enjoyed these picks, be sure to subscribe.
Thank you so much for featuring my poem!! "my grandma, so clean" is the first in a series titled "i was supposed to get married this summer." I just posted the second poem, "the real one is coming soon," yesterday, and the next poem should be out on Tuesday :)
Kudos to AWC for the feature. As is often the case nowadays, I struggle to find the right words to write. I am glad to be here and I am reading all of your stories. Some of them are too impactful to move on to the next. I hope mine is worth reading/posting—a few people didn't feel that a couple of years ago. I will be writing more until it reaches that one designated person. Please watch that space.