Rock ’n’ roll damnation
Marco Ferrarese
Southeast Asian heavy metal rockers unmasked.
Category: Southeast Asia
The homeless
Greg Constantine
For decades, the Rohingya have languished along the Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf highway.
Letters
Michael G. Karnavas, J.D. Wright
Readers on Liam Kelley’s review of Ben Kiernan and Peera Songkünnatham’s review of Thanya Sangkhaphanthanon.
Monsieur Angkor
Aedeen Cremin
Scholar, author and gentle giant Claude Jacques has passed away.
China calling
David Eimer
Can Aung San Suu Kyi resist China’s influence? The generals before her couldn’t
Facing the end
Jodie DeJonge
The inside account of the final days of the Cambodia Daily.
The blogger
John Fuller
Blogger Nguyen Chi Tuyen says he’s ready to sacrifice his life for freedom.
A broken state
Sean Gleeson
The recent violence against the Rohingya continues a systemic attempt to strip them of their right to exist in Myanmar.
River politics
Andrew Wells-Dang
Can anything be done to stop the rush of hydroelectric dams being built on the Mekong?
Starfall
ko ko thett
Lynn Moe Swe, the celebrated poet from Monywa who passed away in September.
Reformasi, remembered
Kean Wong
Before the rise of conservative Islam in Malaysia, there was reformasi
The Tribunal
Alexander Hinton
Putting the Khmer Rouge Tribunal in the dock.
An earful
Peera Songkünnatham
How a poem about Yingluck Shinawatra’s ear shines a light on the patriarchal culture embedded in Thai folk tales.
Lost in translation
Liam Kelley
Ben Kiernan’s history of Vietnam gets lost in translation
Pulp horror
Tiffany Tsao
How Western reviewers missed the point of Eka Kurniawan’s latest work.
Fall for Saigon
Connla Stokes
Can Ho Chi Minh City survive the drive to transform it into little Singapore?
Drawing Charlie Chan
Calvin Godfrey
The genius behind Charlie Chan Hock Chye.
White out
Pim Wangtechawat
Think Hollywood whitewashing is just about representation and diversity?
Riding the bamboo
Brent Crane
In the north-west of Cambodia, a foreigner finds his home.
Yellow music
Cuong Pham
Pre-’75 Saigon music is popular among young Vietnamese.
Heroes of Tet
Michael Dedrick
Fifty years ago, these soldiers launched the most audacious military campaigns of the Vietnam War.
Aubade with burning city
Ocean Vuong
He fills a teacup with champagne, brings it to her lips.
Light as air
Michelle Vachon
I was warned about interviewing Cambodia’s greatest architect, Vann Molyvann.
America’s amnesia
Thomas A. Bass
Why the US can’t make an honest film about the war it lost
Formosakill
Calvin Godfrey
When Formosa couldn’t build its steel plant in Taiwan, it turned to Vietnam.
Cause and karma
Amy Doffegnies
Before he was arrested, Ko Swe Win was already a target.
The past isn’t past
Sebastian Strangio
Why America should forgive Cambodia’s war debt.
Poetry
Moe Way, Maung Shin Saw, Maung Sein Win
The latest in verse from around the Mekong region
Deep south
Abby Seiff
Amid the sectarian violence, life in Thailand’s troubled south resembles life everywhere else.
Too much democracy
T.F. Rhoden
Something is missing at the heart of Thai democracy.
Coma-tose
Nguyen Quan
New poetry from Nguyen Quan
On the move
Martin Stuart-Fox
Rapid urbanisation has transformed Laos from a backwater to a regional hub.
Exile wounds
Michael Freeman
Ocean Vuong’s poetry describes a world of memory, desire and violence.
Life as a shopping mall
Pim Wangtechawat
How Bangkok’s middle class live out their fears and fantasies in shopping malls.
Fallen idol
Andrew Selth
Since she assumed power, Aung San Suu Kyi has suffered a spectacular fall from grace.
Eulogy for the street
Liam Moore
Poetry by Liam Moore
In parentheses
Philip Cornwel-Smith
The enfant terrible of Thai literature breaks rules and conventions to get to the truth
Back to Mandalay
Joseph Woods
How a poem laden with colonial clichés gained such a hold on the Western imagination.
The singing dissident
Nguyen Qui Duc
How the former pop singer turned into a protest artist.
Vietnam’s book market
Pham Trang Nhung
Why Vietnam’s young writers are going online